Well, this was another interesting film.
Jessica Lange shines as Ann Talbot, a criminal attorney, who's unexpectedly cast in the role of defending her father, Michael Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who's accused of unspeakable war crimes in Communist Hungary in the waning days of World War II.
She's in shock, having no idea that her father was capable of such cruelty and refuses to believe that this could be possible and defends him with a vengeance, getting witness testimony revoked by various means and getting a key witness tossed out, thanks to some secret paperwork which disputes the testimony.
For reasons I couldn't fully grasp (as the DVD did not have subtitles), Ann then visits the sister of the other alleged-mastermind and retrieves the title object which reveals the truth, proving that my suspicions were correct all along.
So, yes, the plot may have already sort of been done before to better success (Judgment at Nuremberg, for example), but the final scene with Lange and Mueller-Stahl is riveting and heart-breaking. Also, the communist overtones are a bit odd, as Michael is now an American citizen and loathes the communist party, but perhaps it is all just a show.
What I found more interesting was that Michael was being blackmailed and is probably responsible for the hit-and-run that killed that man. That is what should have driven the plot, not anything else. That would have made the film more fascinating. However, I didn't write the screenplay. Still, the acting is solid, especially the witness testimony, reliving the wretched moments of the Holocaust. Lange was likewise great. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Ann's Hungarian is pretty good for someone who barely speaks it.
-Another interesting side plot is that the prosecuting attorney, Jack Burke (Frederic Forrest) who was driving intoxicated and killed his wife in a wretched car accident, but he's never charged. That could also have made into a film all its own.
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