L'affaire McClain

THE TRIAL, adapted from Robert Whitlow's novel of the same name by director Gary Wheeler and Mark Freiburger, is in many ways a reminder of what movies used to be - movies that centered on trials of innocent victims or trials that, like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, surfaced other issues to ponder. This film is a quiet little intimate tale about the justice system in all its elegance and flaws, but it is more: there are human stories that interweave giving the film an aura of caring that is so rare in today's CGI-oriented Hollywood.

The film is set in the beauty of Georgia countryside, complete with mists and fields and rivers where we first see attorney Mac MacClain (Matthew Modine), pensive after the accidental death of his wife and two children nine years ago. His practice has fallen, his mental sate has fallen below the flatline state, and he is contemplating suicide when a telephone call from the wise old town judge (Rance Howard) summons him to take on a case of the murder of one Angela Hightower, the young and beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the little town, the corrupt Hightower family being part of Mac's sad past encounters. The accused is Angela's boyfriend Pete Thomason (an impressive Randy Wayne) who is now in jail claiming he had total amnesia for the event. Mac feels a sense of responsibility to the boy and agrees to take on the case, hiring back his assistant Mindy (Nikki Deloach) and his investigator Ray (Robert Forster). As they uncover facts Mac seeks advice from psychologist Dr. Anna Wilkes (Clare Carey) who in addition to testing Pete finds time to share her Grieving Group Sessions with Mac.

The evidence is gathered and the trial begins after a plea bargain is denied by Pete. The Hightower lawyer is the brilliant, eloquent but ruthless Joe Whetstone (a fine performance by Bob Gunton) and the battle of wits and rights is on. The courtroom drama is well written and the turn of events from the trial to the followup findings and second trial are well molded. If the film ends in a too saccharine mode, the quality of acting in the film before that should make the audience tolerate the preachiness. There are some fine cameos -Larry Bagby, Burgess Jenkins, Brett Rice among them - and there is much to learn about contemporary youth habits and small town tenor. This is not a great film, but it is a refreshing memory of the small and intimate films of yesteryear.

Grady Harp

Given the fact that this appeared on a Christian channel, our house expected this to have something ultimately it did not have. May I suggest, you do NOT waste your time. There isn't 1 redeeming feature within the 95 minutes of this film which is actually hugely disappointing and has little to do with Christianity. There are many many other things you can find to do in the 95 minutes this lasts which will be more beneficial than sitting through it. The ending, in my view, isn't really that believeable

Slow and not particularly well acted, "The Trial" stars Matthew Modine in what was possibly a TV pilot.

Modine, one of the producers of this drama, plays Mac, an attorney who has been unable to cope with the horrible deaths of his wife and sons in a car accident. He has not been practicing law and in fact, is about to blow his brains out when a call comes in from a judge (Rance Howard) who wants him to take a case. A young man has been accused of giving a woman drugs and then killing her.

Mac reluctantly takes this on, coming up against a prosecutor (Bob Gunton) who asks for the death penalty. Mac hires an investigator (Robert Forster) and a psychiatrist (Clare Carey) to see what they can find out about what happened and about the psychological makeup of the man himself.

Nothing original about this film or the story. Modine gives a nice performance, as does Forster, one of my favorite actors. The rest of the acting was not impressive, nor was the direction. It possibly had the makings of a TV series, though, with some better pacing and scripts.

If one sees The Trial on DVD or on a television broadcast, hasten to assure yourselves you will not be seeing the Orson Welles film The Trial or a remake thereof. If you see it stars Matthew Modine than make sure you catch it.

The film opens with Modine who has been unable to come to grips with the death of his wife and children ready to blow the top of his head off with a revolver. As he's ready to do the deed, a phone call comes.

It's from Judge Rance Howard who wants to get Modine back in the among the living and in the practice of his profession. He appoints him the defense attorney of young Randy Wayne who is accused of the murder of his sweetheart, the daughter of a prominent family in the area. He plied her with 'roofies' to loosen her inhibitions and he's taken them himself. When he came down he finds himself with her dead body and no memory of the crime at all.

He gets all his courtroom skills back, it's like riding a bicycle, once learned it all comes back. But this is a tough case and he needs the assistance of psychologist Claire Carey, research assistant Nikki Deloach and most of all Robert Forster his late wife's brother for some heavy muscle and a bit of detective work. The answer is quite a bit more involved than a case of 'roofies' gone bad.

Modine who also produced this gives a carefully delineated performance of a lawyer being brought back to life in his profession and every day living. In the end he has reason to thank the Deity for being spared in the tragedy that overtook his family.

The Trial has the look and feel of a television pilot and I'm sure Matthew Modine is trying to sell it to one of the networks. I do hope he succeeds.

Enjoyable and entertaining but there something's that don't add up.