Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

American Violet Blu-ray Movie Review

“If you don’t take the plea, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater October 15, 2009

Big Issue movies often walk a fine line between point making and storytelling, as righteous indignation, even when well meaning, frequently leads to didactic, one-sided diatribes. After all, no hand is heavier than the one holding an ax to grind. The temptation is to make one-note villains out of perpetrators of social injustice, to demonize and malign instead of examine or explore, and, on the other side, to beatify the oppressed for their martyr-like suffering. It’s a comparison I often make, but I can think of no issue-centric fiction more evenhanded than HBO’s The Wire, a brilliant series that explores, over its five seasons, a whole catalog of inner-city ills, from drug use and gang violence to political corruption and the cycle of poverty. In The Wire, there is no easy moralizing, no simple solutions to incredibly multifaceted problems. Instead, the show investigates all sides of the issues, from the top down and the bottom up, drawing awareness to their complexity instead of merely pointing fingers. While American Violet has its heart in the right place—no one deserves being vilified more than bigot redneck politicians—the film forgoes shades of grey for a story that literally and figuratively presents its characters as black and white. Still, if you can look past the one-sidedness and conventionality of the plot, the film is an affecting portrait of racial injustice in small-town America.

And it’s all the more affecting because it’s true, based off of real incidents that took place in Hearne, Texas, during the run-up to the 2000 presidential elections. The story centers on Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), an African-American single mother of four who finds herself wrongly arrested after a massive drug raid at the government housing project where she lives. The raid is ordered by powerful district attorney Calvin Beckett (Michael O’Keefe), a racist who annually stages a bust on the largely black community in order to pad the county’s conviction numbers, which in turn leads to additional federal funding. Dee is unceremoniously dumped in the local lock-up, uninformed of why she’s being held until she’s charged in court for dealing drugs in a school zone. The judge saddles her with a crooked public defender and Dee is given an unthinkable choice: plead guilty and go home on probation—as a convicted felon she’ll be forced to leave the government-run projects—or fight the charges, risking an insane prison sentence and the losing custody of her kids. ACLU attorneys David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) and Byron Hill (Malcolm Barrett) catch wind of the case and, along with local lawyer Sam Conroy (Will Patton), they offer Dee a third option: sue the DA for being a racist sumbitch and take on the corrupt Texas justice system. Of course, there are complications. Beckett and the local judges all belong to the same good old boys club, Dee loses her cool during a custody battle with her ex-boyfriend (Xzibit), and it’s exceptionally hard to prove racist intent in a court of law. In this game of Texas Hold’em, however, the ACLU has an ace up its sleeve.

Screenwriter Bill Haney hews remarkably close to the actual events on which the script is based, but the story is predictable and the actors may as well have “GOOD” or “BAD” written on their foreheads with fluorescent day-glo paint. Characters here aren’t developed so much as they’re labeled, with the notable exception of Dee, who certainly has her own foibles even as she’s fighting for what’s right. Relative newcomer Nicole Beharie doles out some impressive thesping, convincingly portraying Dee with hotheaded passion and an indignant incredulity of the situation in which she’s been placed. In the hands of a lesser actor, the material could have been soppy with melodrama, but Beharie is a hurricane-like force to be reckoned with, a talent that I expect we’ll be seeing in many more films to come. American Violet also employs a stable of fine character actors who disappear wholly into their roles. Tim Blake Nelson is perfectly cast as the ACLU attorney coming to grips with whether or not his idealism can have any effect in the real world. Will Patton plays his local lawyer with a quiet, conflicted conviction. And Michael O’Keefe’s district attorney is one of the most utterly hate-able onscreen characters I’ve seen in a long time. Calvin Beckett is definitely a one-note, unredeemable racist, but his piggish despicability gives the story’s legal climax a satisfying emotional resolution.

The point that the film strives to make—the frequent injustice of the justice system—isn’t exactly subtle. Several times we’re told the staggering fact that over 90% of the 2.3 million Americans currently in prison accepted plea bargains, the assumption being that many who did so could feasibly be innocent and were simply unwilling to risk the heavier jail terms that would come with fighting their charges and losing. In peppering the film with images of George W. Bush accepting the presidency and Al Gore conceding defeat, American Violet indulges in the irony that “Dubya” goes to the Supreme Court to be awarded an election he didn’t actually win, while Dee goes to jail and is pressured to plead guilty to a crime she didn’t actually commit. It gives the film context, yes, but in some ways it seems heavy-handed. While I appreciate that the film tries to stick a thumb in the eye of elected officials who abuse the power given to them by the people, American Violet’s methods are sometimes too obvious and overwrought. Despite the lack of thematic finesse, Dee’s personal story is gripping, and I found myself rooting for her and hoping to see Calvin Beckett get a comeuppance deserving of a two-bit, small town bigot. Where’s Walker, Texas Ranger when you need him?

American Violet Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

If the title American Violet makes you think of vivid, eye-popping colors, you've got another thing coming. The film's 1080p/AVC encoded transfer is full of drab, moody tones—a palette that's perfect for this kind of docu-drama. The overall image is slightly stylized, with a faint yellowish cast —visible in white highlights—flattering skin tones, and colors that are warm, rich, and stable, even if they don't necessarily leap off the screen. In fact, for such a modestly budgeted film, I was impressed by the results this transfer achieves. Detail is readily apparent in facial textures, background objects are nicely resolved, and the image has a satisfying sense of presence and depth, all things considered. Contrast runs a little hot throughout, but I was pleased by the effect, and black levels seem almost perfectly tuned. Just examine the shadow detail apparent in the matte black of the SWAT team's rifles, or in the fabric of the dark-colored suits so prevalent in the film. Finally, the transfer sports a pleasing structure of fine, barely noticeable grain. There are a few instances of overheated white levels crushing detail, but these are minor and short-lived. Additionally, I spotted no overt technical issues with the transfer. There's not much in the way of eye candy here, but American Violet doesn't need defending in the PQ court of law.

American Violet Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, there's little about American Violet's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that's immediately impressive. Yet, the more I listened, the more I became aware of the subtle and engaging soundfield that the film creates. The opening drug bust is the film's biggest audio showcase, as it features helicopter rotors rushing through the rears with detailed whirring, frantic voices on both sides of the law, and an ominous LFE rumble. This is the only time that the track gets to show off the range it's capable of, but the rest of the film is immersive in more understated ways. Nearly every scene finds the rear channels alive with some kind of ambience, be it the jangling keys and slamming doors of a prison block, the residential babble of the projects, or a train chugging through surround speakers. Dialogue throughout is clean, clear, and coherent, making it easy to follow the logical twists and turns of the case. The only hiccup I noticed was a slight, split- second dropout that occurs at the 27:04 mark. Otherwise, the track isn't exactly demo material, but it does faithfully represent what you would expect to hear when looking at the image.

American Violet Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Commentary by Director Tim Disney
If Tim Disney's last name seems familiar, it's because he's the great nephew of Walt. Here, Disney discusses how closely the story mirrors the actual events, the importance of proper casting, and sundry details about the actors and themes in the film. The track gets spotty at times, but Disney is clearly passionate about this project and the injustice that he sees in America's legal system.

Telluride Film Festival: Conversations: American Violet (SD, 4:32)
This discussion with Nicole Beharie, Tim Disney, and Regina Kelly—the woman on whom the story is based—is all too brief. They talk about the real situation in Hern, Texas, and the casting process, but there's really not much here.

American Violet Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

American Violet's message may not be subtle, but it is powerful and thought provoking. As a film, it's as predictable as they come, but the lack of surprises in the plot can be glossed over when considering the merit of the performances given by the cast of little-known and underappreciated actors. I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would, and if you're into socially conscious dramas, so might you. This one's worth a rental.