Personal Issues
Boy did this film have a ton of them! In fact that was all this film was. The main issue of abusiverelationships, this being the reason Debbie wanted her boyfriend hurt and why her case was being reviewed, was the one that affected me the most. I could not believe how much Debbie had gone through and how willing everyone was to help her. The lawyers took her case on pro-bono which was the first amazing help given to Debbie. I have had to deal with lawyers on many levels throughout my life because of issues my parents had experienced and can say I don’t think one that I had dealt with would have done this. Also these lawyers had no experience in this type of case so it was very risky for them to help. They sacrificed their time and money to help Debbie in a case that could have ruined them. This is amazing. Next was the forgiveness Debbie received from everybody regarding Willson’s, her boyfriend, death. His family even pleaded multiple times with the parole board to release her. Most people accused of a crime cannot say they had the backing of the people on the other side of the situation. The final personal issue in the movie was with Debbie’s personality. She was the strong support of the prison and of her family, expected to never break down and never to back away. This is perhaps the moment in the film were I felt closest to Debbie. I too have been that person in my family since I was old enough to take care of myself. To have all these things happen to you, charged illegally, denied for release and contract a fatal illness, and not be able to step away and just cry on someone’s shoulder is terrible. If your strong people often forget that you need someone sometimes too.
I don’t think everyone will be able to relate to Debbie and this film, but everyone should be able to understand her pain. It is so visible in the film. Her guilt for her crime, the pain of being abused and of knowing you have been misunderstood and finally the knowledge that you are dying and may die in jail because of the mischarge. See the film, you won’t regret it.
Technique
This film was well done but very basic, because of it being a documentary. There were many camera angles used and many utilized to emphasize a point, such as Debbie crying after being denied for the 3rd time. Other than that, there are only a few shots that stood out in my mind. They would often show a single pink rose growing outside of the prison. This added a bittersweet quality to the film because it was an irony that this rose, considered beautiful, could grow in such a place as prison. It also acted as a metaphor for Debbie. She was essentially the rose growing in the prison. Another scene was kind of like the rose but instead they showed road-kill in front of the prison sign after Debbie had found out she had been denied. I am sure this symbolizes how Debbie and her lawyers felt after getting bad news again. Overall this film was simple but effective in its directing and editing. The shots were more to show emotion than to shock and awe the audience.
Acting
This section of critique for films I feel is null and void for this film. None of this film was really acting. Everything was real and that’s exactly how the director wanted it.
Plot
This film was about a woman, Debbie, who was incarcerated for the first-degree murder of her abusive boyfriend. Her case is being reviewed in the movie due to a new law in California that allows cases of abused suspects to be reopened and reevaluated. In Debbie’s case her crime should have been voluntary manslaughter with a max of 6 years in jail. When this film began she had already served 20. Because of the new law a lawyer group opted to represent clients for free to attempt to reduce the charge or free them. Debbie was assigned two of these lawyers, neither had experience in criminal court, and was filmed in hopes of causing a stir about her story. Throughout the film she is denied 4 times and only released after contracting terminal lung cancer. She lives free for 10 months after her release with her family. (This is one of the most original plots I have seen.)
Themes
The main idea of the film was wrongful actions taken by law enforcement that lead to repercussions in everyone’s lives. This film also had a theme of empowerment to do anything necessary. The final theme was one of general awareness of situations. This movie definitely made thought provoking statements about relationships especially abusive ones. The biggest statement of the movie is a quote from Debbie, “If only he would have just left me alone.” And none of these statements or themes was at all distracting.
Genre
This film is without a doubt a documentary! It is a true story about a single journey through a single situation shown to make a statement or to prove a point. This is a common form among documentaries such as Milk, Supersize Me and A Prozac Nation. I think this a popular genre right now because of how many movements and critical issues are alive today, the homosexual movement and tea party to name a few. Documentaries are about these issues and help call attention and awareness to them. This is not, however a very popular form of entertainment. People usually watch movies like these to learn about a situation and become involved in it in the some way.
Representation
This film represented everyone equally and fairly. It showed them in all different lights, for example both of the richer white lawyers helping Debbie had a past with abuse, something you wouldn’t have expected them to have experience with. There is a pretty significant moment in the film when one of Debbie’s daughters is talking about an arrest of Debbie’s boyfriend Wilson before he was killed. She tells of a situation created when Debbie and him parted ways and he didn’t like it. So he showed up, with guns, at Debbie’s mother’s house threatening to kill everyone. The cops were called and he was arrested and released the next day. The daughter expresses her belief that the police didn’t recognize the danger in the situation because Debbie and Wilson were black and they saw this as common in the black community. That is the only blatant showing of a bad representation in the film.
Ideology
There was a lot challenged in this film. The situation described by Debbie’s sister, mentioned above, and even more related to the running of the law. Through interviews with law enforcement and displaying of evidence regarding Debbie’s case the movie showed the audience that a system previously thought to be whole and based on justice, is shown to be corrupt and broken. Everyone fighting Debbie seems corrupt in this film, the district attorneys, the courts and the parole board to name a few. There was also some witnessed that confessed in this film to falsifying testimony, even worse, the attorneys knew he was doing it and still used him! Until the end of the film it just seemed as though every part of our Judicial Branch of government is bad and corrupt.
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