After Innocence

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: B     Documentary: B+

 

 

In the early days of what eventually developed into criminology after the quackery was eliminated (with eugenic/fascist like underpinnings to boot) about who looked like a “criminal type” and further complicated what was always justice for the rich and justice for the poor in the U.S., The Civil Rights Movement and other breakthroughs started to correct these wrongs and real palpable justice where those who did wrong were caught versus just framing anyone for a crime to make “someone pay” instead of stopping the guilty.  That is even whether they were guilty or not was fixing the system up until the 1970s.

 

By the late 1970s, with a new backlash against Civil Rights and those who talk about interpreting the Constitution “strictly”, waging new domestic wars against the poor and criticizing anyone pointing this out as stirring up “class warfare” (which is a not so sly way of these extremists calling someone a Communist), the Rollback of Civil Rights was on the way and for over a quarter century, the results have been catastrophic.

 

Jessica Sanders’ After Innocence (2005) tells the story of the new efforts to destroy such rights, create a disturbing atmosphere of consensual carelessness (or conspiracy without trying by the amazingly ignorant)  without accountability that continues all the way to The White House to the point that it is no longer even hidden.  The tide is changing very slightly against it and this documentary covers the many persons (men in this case) who were convinced for crimes they did not commit.

 

What those who let this go on criminally within the system did not count on was DNA.

 

Suddenly, hundreds of innocent people have been freed, usually without any financial compensation, programs to help them or even apologies from those in power who erroneously put them there, but the “we don’t need you” attitude since the 1980s allows for this against what they see as “disposable society” in the darkest and ugliest of terms.

 

Not only were so many people wrongly convicted, but the perpetrators, muggers, rapists and even killers are still on the loose simply because DNA of the actual criminals have not been entered into any database or those in power still refuse to admit they are wrong.  This lack of accountability is insane and has ruined countless lives, even to the point that some people who were innocent were sent to death row.  Now you see why so many states have suddenly suspended the process.

 

Even a police officer in the town of Warwick, Rhode Island, a “nice town” as it were was betrayed by his own department and sent to jail for a murder he did not commit.  The malice on the part of those in power is epitomized by this case, where not only no evidence was properly stored, but even ignored, destroyed or carelessly “overlooked” by people who are doing what one could only think of as criminal in itself.

 

If police, detectives and other authorities cannot do their jobs, they should quit, be fired or retire.  If they are not smart enough to do actual detective work or too lazy and ignorant to do so, they should step aside and admit they are taking up space for a paycheck.  Accountability is the key and until stronger laws and major efforts go forward, these ugly stories will continue.  After Innocence is a vital document that shows the truth of the situation, while unintentionally reflecting a much larger and more profound problem in the U.S. that reaches all the way to Iraq and back again.  Don’t miss it!

 

The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is well edited and intimately shot throughout, though detail and depth can be an issue.  However, it is consistent and clean enough to offset that a little bit.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and clear, making the combination just compelling enough, though the subject matter trumps the performance in any case.

 

Extras include interviews with the filmmakers, deleted scenes and bonus footage, the great band Pearl Jam performing with two exonerees, updates on the lives on the film's exonerees, clips from the Sundance premiere, MTV, Larry King Live, and the theatrical premiere of this work, media/press footage, website/contact information and trailers for this a four other New Yorker releases.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo