Identification:

Title: A Time To Kill

Based on Book by: John Grisham

(Book Published in 1989)

Movie Directed By: Joel Schumacher

Summary of the Story:

As stated in the beginning of this assignment, “The movie takes place in a period where racism still existed and courts were still biased. A poor Black family living through a time like this has suffered a lot, but they’re pushed over the fence when their daughter, 10 Year Old Tonya Hailey, was raped and beaten by two local problematic white men (not surprised). At that time, Carl Lee Hailey (started by Samuel L. Jackson), wanted justice for his daughter but knew if he even had a fighting chance of his own, needed support from a reputable White Lawyer, Jake Brigance; who eventually became closer to the family.”

How the story portrayed legal concepts addressed:

Based off of everything learned during this semester, and reviewing different concepts of law, I believe this story portrayed a variety of different concepts, as well as laws. One of the biggest things to be stated about this story, is how it portrays one of the biggest issues faced in the world, especially for Black individuals, which is racial discrimination. During this court case, there was clear racial bias towards the rape victim, Tonya Hailey, and her family. Even with clear evidence and a variety of different individuals speaking out, even with representation of one of the best white lawyers, the judge was not convinced in favoring the case in Carl Lee Hailey’s favor. It is sad to say during the movie, there we no shame within the higher powers either, and it is also  is important to note that these are issues that we still face, if not more common, in the present as well. Another concept seen is the structure of the court system during the entirety of this case. Carl Lee had to first find a lawyer, in which he did, but had to later file a motion to change the jury, and judge due to the history of the judge, and obvious bias towards him and his family. With that, the case went through different sectors of the court system. With the structure, it showed a clear reflection that there was no decency, and still not any, in cases like these, and similar.

Reaction:

Personally, I firmly believe that, “A Time To Kill”, touches base on some of the most important issues faced not only in the past, but currently as well. It has affected my view of law, and the legal profession in general, because it showed me how nauseating some people, courts, and human beings can be in some of the worse situations I can fathom. With this story, the fact that the little girl got raped, and these grown, incompetent and racists adults still managed to be racist and disgusting, treating it as something that wasn’t that serious; it’s something that is beyond me. With that, it made a huge spark in me and awakened something in me, a fuel, a passion to make a difference, a change and use my growing knowledge to one day, manage to bring justice to those in similar, or different situations as well. It is sad to say humanity will never show progress if there is no shift from the close minded, and old ways of thinking, and the inability to see one another for something other than race. “A Time To Kill” covered many of the points, making it the best option for me to have chosen, and one of the best movies I’ve watched.

I choose the movie name “The Freedom Writers”, release in 2007 but now it can be found on Netflix. It’s based on a book that was published in 1999. It’s about a young teacher who inspire her students to learn about tolerance and applying it to themselves and pursue their education in school because the school is a warehouse for the students to hang around and drop out and also really diversify where blacks, asians, latinos and white folks are part of violent gangs that don’t get along.

The reason why I choose this movie is that violence and death are so present right now with whatever’s going on and people’s voice are not being heard and seeing history repeats itself is just tiring. People are confronted with violence in their neighborhood that sometimes they feel like they don’t have control over it. I remember a part of the movie when the teacher ask a student about his graduation and the kid said something like “I don’t even know if I’ll make it to my sixteenth birthday”. This kind of relate to what’s happening to black people who are afraid for their life because their skin is a treat and no one should feel that way.

The movie Neighbors 

Rated R 

2014 Comedy 

1hr 37 minutes

A couple moves into their first house together with their newborn baby. Little do they know a frat group from college moves into the house next door to them. Now unsurprisingly the frat group is too loud at night which is disturbing their newborn baby. Legally speaking the couple could’ve called the police and complained or reported that there was drug use at the party. Usually, noise complaints don’t get taken seriously and I feel as if that’s unfair. Although the frat group was out of line for disturbing than with loud music all night the couple did use inadequate ways to get them to stop partying. 

I’m posting this for Theodore because technical difficulties are preventing him from posting.  Feel free to reply, he’ll see it!  – Prof. C.

I would like to do mine on the 1997 movie “Liar Liar” starring Jim carrey who plays a lawyer whose career is fast tracked because of his great ability to lie. However, He prioritizes his career over his family life which results in his son wishing that his father was unable to lie. This affects Jim’s ability to perform in the courtroom which puts him in a precarious situation.

I choose the movie The Hate You Give.

Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language)
Genre: Drama
Directed By: George Tillman Jr.
Written By: Audrey Wells
In Theaters: Oct 19, 2018 Wide
On Disc/Streaming: Jan 22, 2019
Runtime: 132 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Starr born in a neighborhood of crime and having both lovable parents who at an young age taught her she had to be different from other kids in order to remain safe and learn an code in order to not be dead. She had to change in order to be liked and not be considered ghetto. One night her whole life changed witnesses the shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil by an white police officer. Which will lead her to facing pressure and harassment from all sides of the community and must figure out if she either speaks up and stands up for whats right or remains silent.

This movie is related to the law theme because its what going on in our community discrimination from both sides. Hate from both side thinking that a certain color defines you that you need to act a certain way towards them. That the color black is a menace to the other colors is a mindset projected in a lot of people that think this way and then act in an negligence way. It’s when also people of other races stands as one with the black community and fight with them for their voices to heard, protest, seek justices for the lives that have been taken away by people in fear of just a color. Its what we see in our broken justice system how many of kids are dying and not giving a chance by the government to help them get a better life a life out of crime.

For my culture review, I have chosen a tv series called “Guilt”. This tv series is a murder case that was released on June 13, 2016. It’s about two roommates that study in London.  Grace’s roommate was found dead and the main suspect seems to be Grace. Her sister comes in to help clear her name with a lawyer. Although all the evidence through to Grace being guilty. Her sister starts to question if Grace is really innocent. However, the lawyer discovers that in the investigation there is a lot of guilt to go around. That also leads to a royal family.

The movie i selected for my cultural review is ” How to get away with a murderer” which could be found on netflix. Hulu does not have all of the episodes just the last season which is season six This show was aired September 25,2014. This show is about College professor who teaches law class where she calls the class” How to get away with murder”. The professor selects a group of students to assist her when she has a case at her firm with her employees ( Frank Delfino, Bonnie Winterbottom). The first case she presented was an attempted murder and the defandant was the victims second assistant who was also the victims mistress. The victims wife found out about the affair and the victim moved the mistress to another department to work in and ended the relationship and that’s when she switched the victims blood pressure for asprin which she knew he was allergic too. When he swallowed the pill he fell ill and had a near to death experience. And now they are trying to find out if the mistress actually switched the pill or was it the wife?

For my law in culture review i chose the series Power/Power book ll. It is an American drama series created by Courtney Kemp , the first episode premiered on June 7th , 2014. It talks about a Character named James St Patrick also known as “Ghost” ,who is a Drug kingpin who is trying to get out of the game to own an legitimate nightclub business . He faces many obstacles especially when he starts dating an assistant U.S. attorney (Angela Valdez) , neither of them knowing what exactly each of them does for an actual living. Angela Valdez does not realize the very guy shes sleeping with is the guy shes also trying to take down.

I’ve recently selected a movie, “A Time To Kill”, as my cultural review. This movie was based off the book by “John Grisham”, published in “1989.” A few years later in 1996, the book was turned into a successful movie which was directed by Joel Schumacher and was later nominated for several different awards, including Golden Globes, NAACP, People’s Choice and quite a few others.

The movie takes place in a period where racism still existed and courts were still biased. A poor Black family living through a time like this has suffered a lot, but they’re pushed over the fence when their daughter, 10 Year Old Tonya Hailey, was raped and beaten by two local problematic white men (not surprised). At that time, Carl Lee Hailey (started by Samuel L. Jackson), wanted justice for his daughter but knew if he even had a fighting chance of his own, needed support from a reputable White Lawyer, Jake Brigance; who eventually became closer to the family.

This movie displays the very issue we face even in the present, how Black individuals are often subjected to ill-treatment in court systems compared to their white counterparts parts prompting unethical reviews and panel of judges using bias against races to determine it’s overall outcome.