From late/great documentarian Frederick Wiseman (dead last month at 96, his most recent film out in 2023), this early masterpiece in his favored fly-on-the-wall manner remains one of his best; certainly one of his most influential, inspiring thousands of syndicated hours of copycat courtroom tv drama. Most of them spoiled by textbook melodrama; literally so thru underscored speech & action. These offshoots quite a contrast to Wiseman’s slow-burn purity & effectiveness in his approach on a handful of cases, gray areas left intact. Everyone given as much sympathy as Wiseman is able to generate. With far more comfort & care, and a lack of jaded behavior from this Memphis, TN courthouse staff, than you’d expect. More staff Blacks than you expect, too. How different this might have looked ten years earlier. Wiseman holds back the most complex case for the end (the film running about two and a half hours without a wasted minute). Deeply empathetic with a thoughtful even-handed judge and an uncomprehending sacrifice to the system bringing the most emotional moments in the film. But you’ll find your own case of special interest.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Some of the cases don’t finish, but are sent to continue in another court giving no closure after we’ve invested ourselves in some kind of outcome. A commission from the Wiseman Estate on a Project Update to run as a coda to the film would be just the thing.
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