16. "Capote" (2005)

"It's the book I was always meant to write." 

(Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote)

This film is about Truman Capote's journey as he wrote the novel, "In Cold Blood." It was based on the true story of a murder in Kansas. Two men were charged with murdering an entire family in 1959, when Capote caught wind of the story. He went to Kansas from New York City, originally intending to write an article for The New Yorker, where he was a popular journalist. However, after meeting the accused murderers, especially Perry Smith, he decides that he needs to write an entire novel.

The film is about more than just murder - which is the center-stage event - but about small-town justice and prejudice, and the needs of people to find similarity even in the most uncommon of places. Capote finds that he is very similar to Smith. He forms a bond of friendship with Smith, paying for his attorneys for his many appeals, in exchange for information for his book. In the end, he realizes that Smith is only stringing him along, in hopes that Capote's popularity and prestige could save him from the electric chair.

In the end, the film was a curious look into 1960s culture and its effect on justice and fairness. Smith, like Capote, was a homosexual, and the small town of Holcomb, KS, did not care for that in their town. In some ways, he was condemned from the beginning, regardless of whether he was guilty of the murder itself. Capote is treated with disrespect and contempt, especially as it's viewed that he is protecting a known murderer. The two accused murderers are also condemned to death, thus the inevitable discussion of the death penalty makes an appearance. Even Capote's good friend, Harper Lee (of "To Kill a Mockingbird" fame) is a key character of the film.

I would recommend the film, especially as it is a look at the human aspect to think the best of people and search for the truth.

8. "Just Cause" (1995)

"Every now and then, you have to get a little bloody. It's good for the soul."

(Kate Capshaw as Laurie Armstrong)

The Plot: Bobby Earl was convicted in 1986 of raping and killing Joanie Shriver in south Florida. At the beginning of the film, we see Earl arrested by a white officer, and subsequently beaten by him. Later in the interrogation, he was threatened by black sheriff Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishbourne). Eventually, Earl confesses to the crime and is convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to death. Eight years later, Earl contacts Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), who is vehemently anti-death penalty. Eventually Armstrong agrees to help Earl, who claims he was falsely convicted. Armstrong and his family go to Florida (where Armstrong's wife, Laurie [played by Kate Capshaw], has family) and Armstrong begins talking to everyone involved in the case. Very quickly, Armstrong can tell that the town does not want the case re-opened. Armstrong works to prove that Earl didn't commit the crime, and eventually does with the help of Earl's fellow inmate, serial killer Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris), who claims that he raped and killed the little girl. Armstrong goes to court and gets the clemency board to release Earl based on evidence that Sullivan was the real culprit (tape recorded conversation with Sullivan and a letter he wrote from prison to the Shriver family). During the investigation, the viewer learns that Armstrong's wife was the prosecutor in a kidnapping case in 1985 in which Earl was charged and the case went to trial, though it was later dismissed. Earl lost his scholarship to Cornell University because of the trial. After Earl is released from death row, he comes after Laurie Armstrong (and her daughter, Kate Armstrong), kidnapping them and taking them out into the swamp. Armstrong deduces that Bobby Earl did in fact rape and kill Joanie Shriver, but he had convinced Sullivan to take the heat for him so he could take care of "unfinished business." In return, Earl would kill Sullivan's parents (his unfinished business). With the help of Sheriff Brown, Armstrong manages to kill Earl before significant harm comes to his wife or daughter.

The Criminal Justice System: This film demonstrated two points. First, it exposed the racism that is prominent in this country, even in the 1980s. What happened to Bobby Earl in the beginning of the film likely wouldn't occur today because of videotaping and other surveillance measures in place in interrogation rooms across the country, but other tactics (like keeping them in an interrogation for 22 hours without food, water, or sleep) do still occur. Additionally, the racism of police and others in the criminal justice system still exists and can alter the outcome of a case, often leaving the defendant without recourse. A defendant is at the mercy of the courts once he or she has been convicted, hoping that a judge will agree that an all-white jury is contrary to due process, or that a coerced confession cannot be admitted into evidence. Second, the film exposed one of the difficulties people have with the death penalty: That you would execute an innocent man. In the same vein, the film also showed that sometimes, the system comes to the correct conclusion, even if the process was wrong. In this case, Bobby Earl was rightly convicted, but his case was handled very poorly.

In all, this film is very well done and a great look into the intricacies of the death penalty and the racism that still permeates our criminal justice system, even in 2011.