This title will make people mistake it for a stereotypical mainstream story about how to overturn a wrongful case before watching the film, but after the smooth narrative at the beginning, the audience will immediately find that this has nothing to do with the wrongful case at all. It really was a murder. And it happened in Alcatraz, which is famous for its strict management: Alcatraz. In the United States, there are many film and television works with the theme of this Alcatraz Island, far from Michael Bay's commercial blockbuster "Stone Shattering", and nearly the American drama "Alcatraz" produced by Abrams. After watching last year's "Hoover Biography", I have this feeling. The FBI and judicial system built by Hoover are full of shady and dehumanizing under the seemingly bright appearance. While "First Degree Murder" shows criminals and lawyers, it focuses the main point of accusation on this system and this dark prison.
The descriptions of the characters are very clear throughout the film, and a tragic and inspiring story is told in an orderly manner. Whether he ended up in Alcatraz for stealing $5, or how bloody and brutal he murdered the escape whistleblower, it's not the crux of Henry Young's first-degree murder charge. As the lawyer said: he was just a thief, just a prison breaker, but Alcatraz turned him into a murderer. That's why Henry's tears were so real and shocking when the final court scene came out. He would rather be charged with first-degree murder than give up the possibility of getting out of prison to meet his sister, and every day in Alcatraz prison tortures the mind more than death. Even moments before the jury's verdict was announced, I was so hopeful that he had been sentenced to death, which ironically and heartbreakingly was the most humane thing to do for him.
Director Mark Rocco chose the subjective perspective of a lawyer, avoided the suspicion of many fictional characters (especially Henry Young) in the narrative, and tried to interpret the friendship between the two from the perspective of a friend, which is very clever. . The death of Alcatraz prison in 1963 may not be a direct result of Henry Young and his lawyers, but they have defined victory in their own way. This is also the light and hope that the whole film reveals while the tone is somewhat sad.
The actors are the highlights that have to be mentioned. The first to bear the brunt is Kevin Bacon. Fans who are familiar with him should know that this style and way of doing things are completely different from his usual style. 3 years of diabolical and dark experience of torture and purgatory have made Henry Young completely a frightened little boy. Animal, he was curled up in the corner, afraid of looking directly at people and communicating with words. Bacon perfectly performed this role with excellent acting skills, fully showing that sense of fear and loneliness; and I must mention Lee Er Mi, in Kubrick's war classic "Full Metal Jacket", Hermi played a "demon officer", this time he brought his majesty and unique sense of black humor to his role as a judge, Successfully expresses the judge's strong and sometimes helpless mental state; Gary Oldman is naturally ineffective, saying that good people and bad people are almost indistinguishable in him; and Kristen Slater is full of bookishness. The glasses basically replicate the look and tone of Kevin Costner's "Assassination of Kennedy".
Notes on the disc:
1. Slater (playing the lawyer) thinks: Henry is just a pawn between powers, and Alcatraz is just used to give the public a credible proof of his judicial system;
2. Ken (playing Henry) said: The director chose to play this role because he had never played such a role before.
3. Beacon (played by Henry) said: When he first came to New York at the age of 17, he thought he was the boy next door, and he estimated that he could only play such a role in the entertainment industry;
4. Beacon (Henry's The actor) said: I didn’t take the acting home when I was filming, I was an ordinary person, and I was very tired from filming this work, because there was basically no rest, and I would go home to my family;
5. The movie is in Alcatra It took 3 weeks to shoot,
6. Gary Oldman (playing the deputy warden) himself participated in 12 days of shooting;
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