Conviction

The movie 'Conviction' is quite a movie. Sam Rockwell, Hilary Swank, and Minnie Driver create compelling characters to watch. They form believable onscreen relationships. Due to the content of the film I will withhold a black and white analysis of good and bad. The acting is fantastic, the story compelling, the real life implications heart wrenching. The story is successes hiding in a tragedy. The injustice is maddening and at times as a viewer you want to give up, but seeing how Betty doesn't, you somehow can't.

'Conviction' shows what humans can accomplish through determination. It shows what humans can endure with the right people behind them. Unfortunately, it is a true story and has an ending, not necessarily as happily as we all would hope. He lost much of his life, and after looking into the story, I found Waters died six months after his release. A short run for the man just given his freedom and innocence. Although his sister says it best, "six months of freedom is still better than 20yrs in jail".

I also discovered something about myself while watching this movie. I kept thinking only true life could produce a story like this, this is life. The half success, the unneeded struggle for this poor family, the time they all endured, the work. The feeling of this movie is how I look at life, it's a lot of enduring. The general feeling of the main character, the sister, and her unwavering commitment is inspiring. However, it can't be ignored how unfair, how much work, and although she won, she ultimately still loses. She loses the one person she has fought for most of her adult life. She, and no one, would say her efforts were a waste, but they also couldn't stop the cruelty of life and what seemed inevitable for her brother. How could one person be so unlucky? Why does life work this way? It will make you reassess humanities relationship with religion and god.

In the last scene of the movie, Waters is seen a free man sitting outside looking out over a lake, vindicated. His thoughts are allowed to spread out as far as the expanse of his vision for the first time in 19yrs. He looks content to be in the moment, looking out to his future, but not rushing to it. He is for a moment, forgetting about the injustice inserted into his life. He is thankful, as is the viewer that our justice system finally prevailed, be it 19yrs late. Although I would not call this a holiday movie, the sentiment has it's heart in the right place. We are reminded of the power and importance of family. It lends an appreciation to human will. It highlights the importance of truth and law. It shows there are others working to keep our justice system effective in getting the innocent out of jail and keeping the criminals behind bars. All the people working in the Innocence Project lend hope to those fighting against a wrongful conviction. This movie did leave me with a heavy heart, but it changed me by profoundly affecting me. Many of our own problems and struggles are trivial. Many of us will never experience this form of injustice and be asked to carry on. Many of us will not know the stress and weight of this sisters motivation and determination, thank goodness. We will never fully grasp the understanding of time, in the way these characters (Waters family) do. Some of us, in our own way, will, and will cry with sympathy. The cries leave us asking how and why this would ever be allowed to happen. In our search for answers we are left comforted only by the human will and love. It's no small thing, it is life changing.





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