Miranda's Victim

Although everybody has heard about the Miranda warning, nobody really knows the background story about the circumstances that led to the enactment of this ruling.

Miranda's Victim presents the story from all sides: through the eyes of the attorneys, Miranda, and most importantly, his victim. Trish Weir's persistence in obtaining justice at a time where few women reported rapes is a crusade that still resonates today as women collectively find their voices to share their own sexual abuse stories in the ongoing MeToo movement.

This movie is not just a story. It sends a greater message to all sexual assault victims on how one brave voice can have such a profound effect on the American justice system.

Greetings again from the darkness. "You have the right to remain silent." Whether you say it out loud or just finish it in your head, the vast majority of us know what follows, even if it's (hopefully) just from watching TV and movies. You likely also know that it's part of The Miranda Rights ... a list of rights that anyone being arrested is entitled to. If you are like me, you probably hadn't put any thought into the origin of those rights or the requirement for law enforcement to recite them in a timely manner. Director Michelle Danner (THE RUNNER, 2021) and co-writers George Kolber and J Craig Stiles are here to educate by bringing us the story of Trish Weir and Ernesto Miranda.

The film is based on the true story of Trish, an 18-year-old working at a local movie theater. After one late night bus ride home from work, she was abducted and raped. As Trish, Abigail Breslin proves yet again that she is a terrific actor, and fully grown up since her breakthrough performance in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006). What follows is gut-wrenching, and likely a scene that played out all too frequently fifty years ago, and still occurs today. Trish's mom (Mireille Enos, "The Killing") tries to dissuade her from going to the police by warning her that "they never believe the victim", and that she will then be considered "damaged goods." It's painful to watch this play out, despite knowing that mom thinks she is protecting her young daughter. Trish's sister Ann (Emily Van Camp, "Revenge") is very supportive and follows her to the doctor for the initial check-up, to the police station for filing the report, and ultimately to the courtroom.

There is much to consider in this story. How courageous was Trish for standing up and pursuing the case? How about the detectives (played by Enrique Murciano, Brent Sexton) who recognized that even though other victims had chosen not to come forward, Trish could help them stop a really bad guy? And then there is a legal system that was unfair to both Trish and Ernesto Miranda (Sebastian Quinn), as well as the attorney, judges, and jurors involved with the cases. Fittingly, a clip of the 1962 classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is shown, emphasizing the wheels of justice turn slowly. We see that the ACLU attorney (Ryan Phillippe) gets involved when he believes Mr. Miranda was coerced into a confession. This is the case that changes everything.

Supporting work comes from Luke Wilson as Trish's attorney, Lawrence Turoff; Andy Garcia as Miranda's first defense attorney, Alvin Moore; Donald Sutherland as a judge in the case; Taryn Manning ("Orange is the New Black") as a key witness; Dan Lauria as the examining doctor; and Kyle MacLachlan as Chief Justice Earl Warren, who is excited for a rare public reading of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in 1966. It should be noted that the film is very well acted, with the notable exception of Ryan Phillippe, who tries oh-so-hard to steal his scenes, failing painfully.

Michelle Danner's work as director here is exceptional, given how many facets to the story must be juggled and given proper due. Even the re-trial of Miranda is handled well, as Trish is put through another round of emotional turmoil, this time involving her spouse. The film ends with a startling statistic: only 5 of every 1000 sexual assaults result in a conviction. Those are today's figures, so we are left to wonder just how much has changed over the past 60 years.

The film is currently playing the Film Festival circuit.

This movie is an excellent dramatization of the impact of the Fifth Amendment which, among other things, seeks to protect an accused person from self-incrimination. It is hard to watch at times but covers an important aspect of the USA justice system.

Abigail Breslin is the victim, Trish Weir, starting when she was 18 in 1963 (coincidentally, I turned 18 in 1963) and going through her married, young adult life. She is excellent in what must have been a difficult role.

The criminal here is Ernesto Miranda (thus 'Miranda Rights' or 'Miranda Warning') who was only marginally educated and had been in troubles of various types starting when he was in grade school, his first conviction was when he was in the eight grade in Mesa, Arizona. This movie focuses on his kidnap and apparent rape of the 18 year old girl shortly after she got off the bus, coming home at midnight from her job at the movie house.

Interestingly the actual victim was Lois Ann Jameson but because it was agreed she would be protected went by the pseudo name Trisha Weir. Only later in life did she identified.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. As we both grew up and started college during that time it was nice hearing some old songs from the 1960s.

This movie is not a dramatic detective story with lots of horrifying scenes as the dark gloomy poster suggests. It's not even about Miranda and his rights, completely undeserved honor for him to go down in history like that.

Based on a true story, it dramatizes stoic bravery of a young woman who had to go through the unsympathetic and ritualistic court system where procedural mistakes and skillful lawyers playing chess with people's lives have more impact than actual confessions, on a slight chance of helping others avoid her destiny and being able to sleep at night.

A decent movie on the topic that unfortunately never gets old. Were you really raped or actually asked for it. Are you damaged goods or a traumatized human being. Shouldn't you just keep on living like nothing happened instead of complicating your life. Would they believe you?

IN A NUTSHELL: One of the courses I currently teach at a university is Politics, so I was especially interested in seeing how this story would be told. Already, it has 25 wins and 8 nominations!

The dramatic movie was directed by Michelle Danner, and written by George Kolber, Richard Lasser, and J. Craig Stiles.

THINGS I LIKED: The terrific cast includes Abigail Breslin, Donald Sutherland, Andy Garcia, Luke Wilson, Emily VanCamp, Enrique Murciano, Mireille Enos, Nolan Gould, Joshua Bowman, Sebastian Quinn, and Ryan Phillippe.

Academy Award-nominated Abigail Breslin did a terrific job in the leading role. We all fell in love with her when she appeared in the 2006 movie Little Miss Sunshine. I first noticed her as the darling little girl in Signs in 2002. I'm so happy for her to land this movie. She successfully portrayed a frightened, young girl and slowly showed subtle degrees of maturity, forgiveness, courage, and even dignity as the years passed after the rape. Well done!

I appreciated the fact that the film was directed by a woman because she was able to sensitively show the various reactions of the crime by the featured women in the story.

There is a clip shown from the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. Great movie.

Young viewers might find it hard to believe that people didn't just easily say the names of male and female genitalia like they do now. I thought the film represented how "good girls" actually behaved back in 1963 and how completely devastating being raped as an 18-year-old virgin it would have been for Trish Weir.

Fun fact: Emily VanCamp and Josh Bowman also starred together in the 2011 film They are now married in real life!

The emotional heft is strong throughout the entire film. Get your tissues ready.

Keep watching during the final rolling credits to see photos of some of the real people involved in the events shown in the movie. We also get to read what happened to them and where they are now. One of the final shots shows that out of 1000 rape cases, only 5 of the rapists are actually convicted. That is so wrong and abhorrent in many ways. The film offers a phone number to call if you or someone you know has been a victim.

Kudos to the team for creating a very accurate 1960s period piece that truly looks and feels spot on.

It was George Kolber, one of the producers, who found Trish Weir and got her permission to tell her side of the story. Wow, she was brave then and is still now.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Some of the transitions between scenes were choppy.

There is a strange green screen in Act 1.

This is a heavy film to watch because of the subject matter.

Some viewers might be confused by the non-linear storytelling method, as the timeline jumps around quite a bit.

One thing the movie doesn't address is why a married man would kidnap and rape a young girl. Ernest Mirando deserved to rot in jail. It's so frustrating to watch the courtroom trials. What a filthy scumbag Ernest was.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: A lot of talk of rape with some dramatization of the events Two F-bombs Some blood

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