Well that was a good movie. I'm always reluctant when it comes to courtroom dramas. It feels like when you've seen one you've seen them all. However, with The Verdict, the courtroom wasn't the main focal point. I don't think we actually enter the courtroom until 3/4 of the way through the film. This film was centered around two main aspects.
1) The trial
Obviously, the subject of malpractice and doctor protection. This film was made in 1982 but this is still somewhat of a problem today. I would like to think it's as rare as films made about it. Having experienced a few hospital and procedure visits, the fine print on the forms you sign protect the doctor to the fullest extent. It's equivelant to doing a zip line and signing a waiver saying "Hey, If the steel line somehow snaps it's not our fault. You're on your own." It does feel like doctors are above moral standards of every other business or profession. There was a quote from the movie that was somewhere along the lines of "They are their own gods" if not that exactly. As prevelant at the end of the trial this doctor had built his reputation to such a high standard that not even himself could be held to it. When he was trying to live up to it, he became comfortable which in turn was negligent. Like most movies though, of course Frank won the trial.
2) The Character
This is by far my favorite aspect of the movie. This is the only reason I kept watching this movie. There was this brilliant parallel between the patient/trial and Frank. Frank was struggling with his life yet he had no idea. Frank fell into this lull with his life of just getting by. The scene, which was one of only two around the actual patient, at the bedside in the hospital is when he realized that the patient lying on that bed may as well of been him. That is what his life had turned into. He was affecting the world just as much as a person in a vegetative state. From this point on we saw the reaffirmation of Frank Galvin, Esquire. Throughout the trial process it felt as if Frank was almost prosecuting his own moralities and choices in life. The slow process of gaining evidence and witnesses was Frank bogging down and plodding his way through the muck; grasping his life again.
When giving his closing argument Frank said "If we are to have faith in justice. We need only to believe in ourselves."
This was not just a statement about the trial at hand but a statement about what we as people can aspire to.
Good choice Derrick
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Thanks for your input. I completely agree with you about the character being the most intriguing aspect of the film. When Galvin is giving his closing argument, he doesn't have the sense of stardom or entitlement that lawyers in other courtroom dramas portray (i.e. McConaughey in 'A Time to Kill' or Welles in 'The Trial'). Instead, he said what he had to say then kinda slumped into his chair in defeat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts. I'll be posting your suggested movie today.