A very good movie, with perfect rhythm, emotion, laughs, and completion, and a very good script structure and dramatic conflict. Slightly old-fashioned but does not affect the wonderful.
I thought it was a movie about a court trial at first, but I found out that it was a story about a super NB lawyer defending an uncooperative client who wanted to be sentenced with extreme justice. Under the guise of the trial are family films - about father-son relationships, family and work ethic.
Regarding Hank Palmer's relationship with his father judge, it's hard for me to imagine that this was an American film. The way judge handles the parent-child relationship is too oriental and traditional, it is simply "father's love like a mountain" himself. He's silent, harsh, and pushes children to the right track. He makes all the decisions he thinks are good for the kids, even if it means Hank is denied the right to do what he wants (Boy Scouts), a juvenile detention center (instead of community service), or the achievement and joy unshared ( miss all graduation ceremonies). In the part of the court's judgment, he said, "I looked at him and saw you." Because of his son, he was unprecedentedly soft-hearted towards a young man and wanted to help this man; and because of the young man's bad behavior, he intensified his actions towards his son. Strict, let him be on the right track. What a deep love, but he never said it. And this directly led to Hank's grievance and hatred, he left Carlinville, trying to break with the past.
Therefore, what Hank has been pursuing is recognition. Back in the town again, Hank's existence has always been like an outsider, with his father, with his brother, and with this town. He never got any positive feedback from his father, and the solution was to continue craving and break completely, and Hank's choice was a combination of these two. On the one hand, he "does everything he can pretend he does not come from Carlinville", and it will never come back; on the other hand, he gives his father the opportunity to force a little praise and approval again and again, even if he gets it again and again Thoroughly disappointed.
The long-term separation has made the differences between Hank and his father not only the mistakes they made in the past and differences in education methods, but also extended to the professional ethics of judges and lawyers. In a sense, this is also an old-fashioned versus new-style confrontation—whether a good lawyer should defend his client with all available means regardless of the facts, or answer entirely in accordance with the truth and honesty. In Chicago, a person can disappear into a crowd in ten seconds. The former is not a problem at all, but in a small town like Carlinville, where everyone knows each other, integrity has become a big constraint. Here you'll be flown at half-mast when you die out of respect, and long reviled by word of mouth.
Judge is a typical small town person, and he places great importance on trust and ethics among neighbors. He looks for decency, respect (or vanity in Hank's mouth), qualities that are important in a small community. As a judge, he takes his integrity and the accuracy of his judgment more seriously than going to jail.
But apart from Yu Gong's strict integrity, judge Yu Yi is by no means a good father, but has a big personality flaw. He was authoritarian, conceited, stubborn, patriarchal, hard-mouthed and mean, afraid to face the truth, and said too much to those who cared about him. He will be soft-hearted but never express it, thinking that providing tuition and food, and taking on the responsibility of the family is love. And Hank's hard work and dedication became worthless in his mouth and taken for granted. It was not until the last moment that he was really honest and said "Hank is the best lawyer I have ever seen". It's just the regrets of the past that there is no room for redemption. They may have reconciled, but forgiveness is too difficult.
Family is an amazing thing. You quarrel to the point of rage and fight, you blame each other, complain and abuse each other. But after all, they share those beautiful memories and common emotions. This film never evades this point in the story of family relationships, and even the warmth of the past and the conflict of the present are closely linked. The family of origin cannot choose, and everyone is more or less affected by it. As far as Hank is concerned, their family's stubbornness is really a very bad performance of the original family, but it cannot be denied that his excellent today also comes from the teaching of this family.
The most frightening thing is that the family of origin is a vicious cycle, and the negative influence of judge's extreme personality is too difficult to offset. Hank's tendency to escape when he encounters emotional problems, his neglect of teaching his children; Glen's always careful compliance, often violent; everyone's dishonesty. It is all inheritance of character and environment. And perhaps the judge's irritability and stubbornness stemmed in part from the mother's criticism and blame. Interlocking, endless.
The trial described in the film is, in a sense, the judge's last lesson for Hank. His extremely strong insistence on justice and the law probably allowed Hank to fight the first righteous but failed defense, and told Hank his definition of "good lawyer" with practical actions.
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