The Exonerated: Grade A

A

The Exonerated

Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, Susan Sarandon, David Brown, Jr. Director= Bob Balaban

In this nonfiction piece, six people who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned, then later exonerated, tell their stories. The actors speak the actual words of the prisoners (who are shown in a DVD extra), under solitary spotlights on a darkened stage. There are no sets. The six stories are interleaved, so the overall flow moves through situation, arrest, trial, imprisonment and exoneration. The exonerated people are simple, poor, and unreflective, and they describe mundane, low-life circumstances. There is nothing very interesting about them except the fact that they were wrongly imprisoned, for years, some for decades. The law enforcement and judicial processes come off as racist, incompetent and callous, although these are one-sided tales, not investigative reports. No doubt there is much more to each story. What makes it such a good drama, in my opinion, is not the sentimentality of the theme or the implied criticism of the criminal justice system, but the plain, honest language of the speakers and the riveting acting by these six stars. The film should be shown in acting schools. Until you can perform like this, you can’t call yourself an actor.