(Photo by Frank Masi)
SOMETHING JUST DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT HERE: Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) mulls over the account of the incident given by the alleged car jacking victim Brenda Martin (played by Julianne Moore).
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.
|
(Photo by Frank Masi)
SOMETHING JUST DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT HERE: Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) mulls over the account of the incident given by the alleged car jacking victim Brenda Martin (played by Julianne Moore). |
When Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) arrives bruised, bleeding, and mute at a hospital emergency room after a carjacking, Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) is summoned to the hospital. In the course of taking the shaken woman's statement, we learn that her four year-old son, Cody (Marlon Sherman), was asleep in the back seat of the automobile.
The veteran detective immediately calls headquarters to issue an all points bulletin. Because Brenda is white and her young assailant was black, cops descend in droves on the African-American neighborhood where the incident allegedly occurred, shutting down traffic into and out of the Armstrong Projects as civil rights are ignored in attempts to catch the culprit.
This doesn't sit well with the residents, who complain that the authorities only care because the missing child is white, and that there's never been a similar police presence when the victim is black. When detective Council shows up with Brenda, ethnic tensions threaten to boil over.
Adding fuel to the fire is the presence of Brenda's hot-headed brother, Danny (Ron Eldard), who is a police officer in Gannon, a white town located just across the tracks. It falls to Council to prevail upon the community to let the authorities do their job.
Freedomland is a morality tale which unfolds in the fictional city of Dempsy, New Jersey. If this city's name is familiar, it's because it also served as the setting for Clockers, the Spike Lee film based on the best seller by Oscar-nominee Richard Price (The Color of Money). However, this movie, with its ever-present threat of a race riot, is more reminiscent of another Spike Lee film, Do the Right Thing.
Freedomland's success is due to a first-rate cast that is talented enough to overcome an alternatively preachy and preposterous script which betrays them in the end. Academy Award-nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) plays to his strength here as an intimidating character. At every turn, Detective Council seems to be shouting in someone's face, whether at suspects, colleagues, superiors, or even at Brenda, as he becomes increasingly skeptical about her unlikely story.
Four-time Oscar-nominee Julianne Moore is just as effective in a familiar role she's handled before, that of an anguished mother who has lost a child. Equally engaging performances are turned in by Aunjanue Ellis, Anthony Mackie, and three-time Emmy-winner Edie Falco (The Sopranos). Rounding out the cast are Freedomland's author Richard Price as Brenda's attorney and Samuel L. Jackson's real-life wife, LaTanya Richardson.
By relying on dizzying hand-held camera work, director Joe Roth (Christmas with the Kranks) creates a palpable sense of urgency. The electricity in the charged atmosphere is amplified by Council's incessant barking which imbues the screen with an emotional edge, even in situations which aren't that volatile.
An intensely engrossing melodrama which misses the opportunity to deliver an emotional payoff.
Very good (3 stars). Rated R for profanity and violence. Running time: 112 minutes. Studio: Sony Pictures.
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.