A stellar cast is the chief appeal of The Exonerated, director Bob
Balaban's film adaptation of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's true-life
stage play. Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Aidan Quinn,
and Delroy Lindo portray five of the six people (the sixth is played by
newcomer David Brown, Jr.) who were convicted of crimes they didn't
commit and spent years on various death rows before their cases were
re-examined and new evidence led to their being set free.

Performing a
script pieced together from actual court transcripts, depositions,
letters, and interviews, each of the six, some of them accompanied by a
spouse, recounts his or her story from beginning (crime, arrest, and
conviction) to end (i.e., exculpation and readjustment to the outside
world, where they must "practice to be human again"). Some of the
material is pretty shocking, reflecting outrageously inept and/or
prejudicial work on the part of law enforcement, legal representatives,
and/or court officials; for instance, the lawyer for Kerry Max Cook
(Quinn), who was locked up for over 20 years on a patently bogus
rape-murder conviction, was a former district attorney who had twice
prosecuted him in the past. Other characters are introduced via
occasional re-enactments of police interrogations, trial testimony, and
such, but for the most part it's the six principals who dominate the
screen. That's a mixed blessing; although placing the actors against
black, blank backdrops and bathing them in holy light is certainly
dramatic, the result is somewhat static and, not surprisingly, very
theatrical (The Exonerated had over 600 off-Broadway performances, in
addition to national tours). Nevertheless, its impact is
considerable-

-especially when the real "exonerees" appear onscreen at
the end. Extra features include bios and interviews with the writers
and actors. --Sam Graham

Product Description
Starring: Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, Susan
Sarandon, David Brown Jr.
Written By: Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Directed By: Bob Balaban

Location(s)