Conviction Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Conviction Blu-ray Movie Review

Told with conviction, but is it compelling?

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater February 17, 2011

It’s a sad reality of an imperfect justice system that there are—and more regretfully, have been—untold numbers of wrongfully accused men and women behind bars, serving time for crimes they didn’t commit. Even sadder is the fact that many of these people get lost in the institutional shuffle of long-delayed parole hearings, pushed back retrials, and the general apathy of those on the outside. The unfortunate common consensus is that if they’re in prison, they must be guilty. Occasionally, though, you hear about an intrepid lawyer who finds reasonable doubt in the evidence and mounts a new case to clear the good name of some long-imprisoned innocent. With the advent of DNA testing in the late 1980s, this process became exponentially easier, but it was certainly no cakewalk for Betty Anne Waters, who, when no one else would take the case, put herself through law school to exonerate her wrongfully convicted brother.

Conviction delivers the almost-beyond-belief details of Betty Anne’s plight, and like many “based on a true story” dramas, it feels duty- bound to be inspiring and touching. Consequently, you’ll often feel like you’re watching a larger-scale made-for-TV movie, like a Lifetime Channel matinee on production value steroids. But try not to let that description turn you off. Despite no shortage of melodrama, bleary-eyed sincerity, and plot turns that seem designed to fit conveniently before commercial breaks, Conviction is worthwhile for two reasons: 1.) it is genuinely inspiring, and 2.) the film features some terrific performances, both from its leads and a well-cast group of subsidiary characters.

Hilary Swank, no stranger to playing plucky real-life women—see Amelia, Freedom Writers, and Boys Don’t Cry—has no trouble slipping into the shoes of Bette Anne, a high school drop-out and single mom in rural Massachusetts who devotes her life to freeing her brother from prison. In 1983, Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell) was convicted of murdering diner waitress Katharina Brow and given a stiff life sentence. Writer/director Tony Goldwyn—yes, grandson of MGM co-founder Samuel Goldwyn—toys briefly with some ambiguity over Kenny’s innocence, but this is just an attempt to inject some suspense into a story with an already-known outcome. Goldwyn and Rockwell do, however, turn Kenny into a marvelously realized character. Unlike the innocent and relatively wholesome Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, Kenny Waters seems like the kind of guy who would commit murder. He’s rash and quick to anger, a local troublemaker with a well-established rap sheet and a problem with authority. He’s certainly not the sort of person who earns our sympathy quickly—if at all—and this is one of the sole complexities in an otherwise straightforward film. We almost feel that Kenny doesn’t deserve freedom, but we’re also simultaneously aware that this feeling is, of course, wrong.

Kenny’s troubles start when he resists arrest at the hands of a crooked female cop—a devilishly bitchy Melissa Leo—who seems to have it out for him. From here, Goldwyn jumps backwards and forwards through time with sometimes confusing regularity. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s we see Betty Anne and Kenny’s lives before the murder charges—both were in fairly healthy relationships, and both had kids—and in the mid-1990s, we follow Betty Anne as she struggles through law school while juggling her responsibilities as a single mom and part-time barmaid. Things get interesting towards 2000, when Bette Anne discovers The Innocence Project, an organization founded by attorney Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher), devoted to exonerating the wrongfully accused through DNA testing.

There’s some drama here—Do the blood stains from the crime scene still exist? Has the evidence been destroyed?—but given that the film is billed as an inspirational true story, much of the suspense is lost from the get go. The narrative isn’t always linear, but it certainly moves in predictable directions. Clearly, Kenny is eventually going to get out. I found myself wishing the film would deviate from reality at certain junctures. Wouldn’t it be more surprising—and devastating—if Kenny actually turned out to be guilty and Betty Anne essentially wasted her life pursuing his release? Then, of course, we’d be watching a work of fiction, not a dramatized reenactment—which is what Conviction is—but that begs the question: Wouldn’t the film be better as a pure documentary? The film also gets muddled frequently in the procedural details of tracking down documents, making the right contacts, and endless waiting, which tears us away from the real story—the personal and familial sacrifices Betty Anne had to make to hew through this legal jungle.

Still, it’s hard to dismiss Conviction entirely. While the story seems primed for basic cable, the acting is top-notch. Swank excels at these kinds of roles—the rural accent, the woman-up-against-a-male-dominated-system power struggle, the single-minded ambition—and Sam Rockwell’s transformation from a charismatic young good old boy to an embittered, hopeless prisoner is definitely affecting. (With the goatee and slicked back hair, he looks a bit like Sandra Bullock’s bad-boy ex, Jesse James.) The film also solicits the considerable talents of Juliette Lewis as a trashy witness coerced into testifying against Kenny, and Minnie Driver, who plays a law school friend who aides Betty Anne in her long, inspiring journey to Kenny’s retrial. Curiously, to end on this optimistic note, the film is forced to omit the sad fact that the real Kenny Waters accidentally fell off of a 15-foot-high wall and died of a skull fracture just six months after his release from prison. How’s that for injustice?

Conviction Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

When it comes to picture quality offenses, Conviction is acquitted of all potential charges, arriving on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's sharp, accurately colored, and entirely natural looking. Minus a few scattered soft shots, clarity is first rate, displaying highly refined textures, like the cloth weft of Kenny's knit cap, the individual hairs on his goatee, and the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. The film goes for a largely natural, unstylized color scheme—although white highlights are intentionally given a creamy cast—and while there's nothing especially vivid or eye catching here, the image has a satisfying presence, bolstered by sufficiently deep black levels and balanced contrast. The film's grain structure maintains a fine, natural appearance, edge enhancement is entirely absent, and there are no compression issues worth mentioning. You probably won't think of Conviction when tallying your best-of-2011 picture quality lists, but this unflashy transfer is definitely rock solid.

Conviction Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track makes no real impression, other than the fact that it's clear, dynamically full, and unblemished by any hisses, crackles, or break-ups. This is a talky drama, and as such, there's really no place for any insane audio theatrics; rather, this is one of those quiet tracks that gets the job done, and does it well, without drawing any attention to itself. The rear channels are only sparsely used throughout, mostly to house Paul Cantelon's quiet score, but also for occasional ambience, like barroom chatter or incidental music. Most importantly, dialogue is always clean, prioritized, and intelligible. Nothing stands out, but then again, there are no problems with this track either. English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available in easy-to-read white lettering.

Conviction Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Conversation with Tony Goldwyn and Betty Anne Waters (1080p, 10:19): Director Tony Goldwyn and the real Betty Anne Waters sit down to discuss the extremely long road to completing the film.
• Sneak Peak (1080p, 2:20): A trailer for Cyrus.

Conviction Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If there were an addendum to the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction," it would probably be: "but not always as engaging, narrative-wise." Such is the case with Conviction, a true story about injustice in the justice system that's sad, yes, and even momentarily triumphant, but never quite makes the dramatic impact it could if it weren't so tied to reality. Still, if you're into stories about real people overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Conviction is well-made and inspiring. Definitely worth at least a rental.