Das Geständnis

A completely silly movie, trying to be serious. The plot is utterly ridiculous- if you ignore the warnings, and watch this film, ask yourself periodically "what is the dumbest, most obvious turn that this story could take" and you will have predicted the next scene.

Would the death of your 5 year old, then the attempted suicide of your husband turn you on???

Plot 'twists' like this were unwarranted, and bordered on the macabre....

Between nodding off now and then, I kept wondering "why???" Avoid this snoozer.... please.... Rating? 1/2 out of 10

I was surprised to see viewers rating of 6 out o 10. I saw it on Cable & got glued to the TV, if not throughout, then at least for the most part. As always, I was impressed by Ben Kingsley's performance: so genuine & magnetic.

Sol Yurick acquired a great deal of experience while working the streets of New York. His most famous story which received wide acclaim is called 'The Warriors.' Now director Daniel Hugh Jones initiates this fascinating Yurick novel entitled " The Confession. " It's an important story taken from the pages of todays headlines. Harry Fertig (Ben Kingsley) is a well respected, devoted and loving father who's six year old son is suffering from acute appendicitis. Upon rushing him to the Emergency ward of the hospital, he is told his son who needs immediate attention will have to sit, wait and fill out forms. The result; his son dies. Concluding someone has to be held responsible, the grieving father sets out to punish the hospital receiving attendant, (Eric Malabar), the admitting nurse (Becky Ann Baker) and Dr. Mason Gillett. (Mark Ethan) all for putting their own troubles ahead of an emergency patient. After his son's death, Fertig murders all three and then surprisingly enough, surrenders to the police. While awaiting trial for murder, Fertig is given a public defender whom he promptly fires. However, his new defense lawyer Roy Bleakie (Alec Baldwin) is a well connected, ambitious attorney who is instructed by his client to plead him Guilty! With many rich and powerful people concerned his client might be given the death penalty, Bleakie is ready to plead him Not Guilty by reason of insanity. However, Fertig insists, he knew what he did was wrong and is willing to accept punishment, even if it means being executed. The story is intriguing from it's onset and the collected cast does a marvelous job of imbuing understanding, sympathy and deep emotional drama to the characters. All one needs to do is live in our speedy, fast food, hectic style of life to realize what this case is all about. Anyone who has ever been run-over by the uncaring freeway of ambiguity we've created or have experienced the churning frustration we daily endure, know what this movie is all about. The result; this film has become a Classic and is easily recommended to anyone who cares. ****

I wonder what induced Kingsley, Irving, Noth and Baldwin to participate in this tripe. Understand their beliefs may have led them to do it, but the next time they have a spare weekend, perhaps they could spend it interviewing directors who have a modicum of talent and originality. It was a toss up for me between the direction and the script as to which was the most banal. The consummate professional cast struggled to give the piece some dignity but it was hopeless from the start. On a lighter note, even the delectable Chris Noth plain-janed himself into obscurity.

I'm not a particularly avid follower of movie actors, or of movies as they're released, which probably explains why I found "The Confession"--and Alec Baldwin's performance in it--so surprising. I'd heard nothing about this film and saw it quite by accident.

Movies like "The Confession"--that is, movies with moral dilemmas at their center ("It's not hard to do the right thing; it's hard to know what the right thing is" is the central dilemma of the film)--often bypass the ambiguities of complex moral questions in favor of a single answer everyone can love.

In this film there are moral ambiguities aplenty, and the film deals honestly with the difficulty of facing those ambiguities head-on and taking a clear position. Alec Baldwin's performance was startling and complex--a beautiful thing to watch. The supporting cast, including Amy Irving, was top-notch, too.