Racism and Injustice in Films - Assignment Example

Racism and Injustice in Films It is interesting to understand the actual ideology, symbols and similarity showcased in the movie films, “A Time To Kill”, “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “The Lincoln Lawyer”. All of them have one substantial point which underlies on the actual symbol or reality of the existence of race, prejudice and corruption. To expound this further based on the excerpts from the three movie films is the main point of the work at hand. From the movie film “A Time To Kill”, Carl Lee Hailey asks, “Do you remember four white boys raped a little black girl all even death last year? They got off of it” (A Time To Kill 12:31 to 12:38). These lines are meaningful as these could clearly present us the reason of the case why Mr. Hailey killed the two white racist rednecks men who raped his 10-year old daughter. He is asking for justice, but quite not sure of it that the court would be able to grant it to his daughter, based on his perceived reality of the trend on how justice is served to African-Americans like him in the country. Thus, for him, as far as the pledge for legal insanity is concerned, the only means to acquire such justice is to take it all in his hands and give it by himself to his daughter. While referring to the prevailing reality of just prudence in the country, D.A. Rufus Buckley, head of the prosecutor team considers the idea of the possibility of the defense to change the venue of the preliminary hearing. He talks as an expert lawyer who knows about the race statistics in the country. Buckley states, “Blacks are most sympathetic with other blacks” (A Time To Kill 26:30). By this, he means that the choice of venue for the trial matters as there is a chance to get juries that would favor their case against Mr. Hailey who is now put in trial because of killing the two white men who viciously brutalized and raped his daughter. However, there was a sense of irony in the movie film as it quite starts like the viewer might have the impression that Jake Tyler Brigance, Carl’s friend, a white man and his defense lawyer only seeks for a break for choosing this case. The proof would be his great enthusiasm to get his face on the news or series of appearances on the media. However, it is later revealed in the movie film through Carla, Jake’s wife that her husband was choosing this case because he simply wants the truth and justice to prevail, totally disregarding the hidden issue of fame and racism, which the movie film shows to hinder justice to prevail at some point. On the other hand, one might be able to clearly see the issue of racism and injustice in the movie film “To Kill A Mockingbird” when Atticus Finch, a white man and Tom Robinson’s defense lawyer is confronted by Mr. Ewell, one of the witnesses of the prosecution panel. The matter concerns about Finch’s role to be part of the defense team of Tom, an African-American man who is falsely accused of rape charge of a white young lady. In response to this harsh confrontation with Mr. Ewell, Finch gives these remarkable words, “I’ve been part to defend Tom Robinson. Now that he is being charged that’s what I intend to do” (To Kill A Mockingbird 23:23). After this, Mr. Ewell blurted with anger that Finch was wrong with his decision. There is something to this scene which showcases the impression that there are people who instinctively thought that to be part of the defense team and most likely with a black man is a wrong idea or choice. However, there is something to the words of Finch and they substantially depict the point that all that he just wanted is to simply help Tom and give him the justice that he deserves. He is so sure of it, which is the very point of his grand excuse from the confrontation with Mr. Ewell and even his actual commitment to be with the side of Tom until the end of the case as he simply seeks to find the truth to serve the justice. Mr. Finch’s strong point is that the whole trial relies only on the testimony of the witnesses and no medical evidence is procured for the matter of finding Tom to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt (To Kill A Mockingbird 92:24). With all the lapses from the testimonies of the witnesses, surely one could not simply rely alone on what has been said by them, but medical evidence might substantially tell the fact to serve the justice to whom it simply deserves. From the movie film “The Lincoln Lawyer”, when everything was made clear to Mick Haller, a defense lawyer of a client who is charged of murder, he is then facing the dilemma when conscience smashed him, as far as justice is concerned. When he found the real evidence, tension began to submerge into his consciousness as he utters these words, “Any evidence be found made visible turning client privilege will really in this case could rob against him” (The Lincoln Lawyer 54:44). The whole point is that with the complexity of the situation, Mick will put the other client in jail and the other, dead. In either way, he needs to stand by the truth, but this would put his entire career in jeopardy (The Lincoln Lawyer 54:32). In order to correct this, Mick has no choice but to follow the system, present evidence and argue things as clearly as possible, exactly as how the defense is expected to conduct his self before the court in order to set everything at the right process. On the other hand, since the burden of proof is in them and in order to play this role, the prosecution headed by Ted Minton has the privilege to play with evidence and allow things to turn out for their advantage. However, one remarkable point of the movie film after seeing this point from the prosecution panel is the actual fair treatment of the judge Orton Powell, an African-American as depicted on his words during a closed door meeting with the defense and prosecution lawyers. Judge Powell said, “Mr. Minton, do you know what you have done? You put a document liar on the stand, a man with a record of putting innocent people in prison. I can’t think of nothing, more prejudicial or corrupt than what I just saw up there” (The Lincoln Lawyer 97:08). All of these three movie films clearly depict the issue of racism and injustice. The first two movies are trying to point the issue of injustice that might be generated from racism. On the other hand, the third movie may have nothing to do with racism, but it clearly points out how injustice might be substantially acquired in the justice system. All of these three movie films have something in common and that is to point out the fact that evidences may be superficial as on the contrary they might not actually pointing to the truth. There are some issues or reasons that could substantially hinder the truth to prevail and they are clearly emphasized in the three mentioned movie films. The first issue as clearly observed from “A Time To Kill” and “To Kill A Mockingbird” is racism. With substantial biased and prejudice associated with race, injustice is more likely to surface in the end. Thus, the truth will never prevail and the detriment of everyone may boil down to this. This is the reason that the other potential barrier to obtaining justice is one’s bias or prejudicial intent, which is another important point why Mr. Hailey put the justice in his hands. This is also the reason why Mr. Finch defended an American-African client in the same way as how Mr. Brigance performed it with Mr. Hailey until the end of the case. Potential prejudicial intent was also the reason why Judge Powell raged to anger upon knowing the prosecution tried to plant adulterated evidence. Clearly, the reason why Powell was in such a reaction is because the whole point would lead to misleading the whole justice system and suppressing the truth to prevail. Another point, the corrupt intention is another significant reason why it is hard to achieve the truth in the justice system as clearly depicted in the movie film “The Lincoln Lawyer”. This exactly is the point why Mr. Haller soon was entangled by his conscience when his client forced him to bend the whole system and perform differently the role that the justice system allows every defense lawyer to play. In totality, the three films point to the same ideology and that is to let the truth prevail in order to achieve justice with total disregard of the issue of race, prejudice and corruption. This is a substantial message that each of the movie film tries to impart with its viewers. They all seek to educate the society and allow everyone to see the reality how the justice system works or should work for each one of us. References A Time To Kill. Dir. Joel Schumacher. Perf. Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1996. DVD. The Lincoln Lawyer. Dir. Brad Furman. Perf. Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe. Landshore International, 2011. DVD. To Kill A Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perf. Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton. Universal International, 1962. DVD. Read More