A TIME TO KILL

 

THREE STARS – Thought-provoking

 

 

       A “Time to Kill” is a movie that will touch all of your emotions.  For those with children (especially daughters), you might be filled with rage.  For those rooting for equity and retribution in the racially-torn South, you might cheer.  But for those seeking justice in America ‘s judicial system, this movie is disturbing.

       Cast in the serenity of a small Mississippi town, there is something here for everyone to love or to hate.  There is a handsome white lawyer, Jake Brignance (Matthew McConaughey) who risks everything to save a black father who has avenged his daughter’s brutal beating and rape.    There is a politically motivated NAACP who uses this tragedy for its own purposes.  There is a viscous Klu Klux Klan which blatantly preaches its doctrine of hate.  There is even an ambitious district attorney who himself uses the trial as a stepping stone to the governor’s mansion.

       But, in the midst of such drama, the film causes us to ponder some of the most difficult questions of our day:  Do the wrongs of the past mean that vigilante justice is our only solution?  And are there no people or institutions in the south willing to take a stand without compromising their integrity?

       Certainly the civil rights movement has had many heroes, from Martin Luther King, Jr., to the lawyers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.   In “A Time to Kill” they must have stayed home.

       Though the Christian church is strong in the South and has made great strides in achieving racial reconciliation, the film ignores this powerful agent for change.  Instead, the film presents Christianity only through the blasphemous words of the Klan leaders and their perverted religion.  The effect of such an evil use of Christian language by the Klan with no correcting presentation of true Christian love is to cause the viewer to pull back from the true teachings of Christ and His call for us to love even each other, including our enemies.

       The storyline of the film follows John Grisham’s first novel.    It begins when two drunken and racist white men attack and rape a ten year old black girl.  Though they leave her to die, she lives and is able to identify them.

       Upon their arrest, the father of the little girl, Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), fearing that they will not be held responsible for their deeds, shoots and kills them.  This act is as much a statement of his distrust in the justice system as it is the vengeance of a father.   Thus the film revolves within these twin orbits of concern.

       Carl Lee’s defender is a young lawyer named Jake Brigance.   An inexperienced local man who has adopted both the liberal philosophy and practice of an older lawyer, he believes he can “change the world one case at a time.”   This is his chance to do so.

       What follows from his decision to accept the case is the intertwining of Jake’s life with Carl Lee’s and a struggle to find their way in this racially charged trial.

       Jake is not a deeply congruent person.  He is willing to risk and lose his wife, family, friends, home, reputation and even life for this cause, yet we never fully understand what he thinks a victory like this will accomplish.

       Carl Lee killed two people in handcuffs going to trial for rape and attempted murder.  Does Jake truly believe that his is a moral act?  Does the atrocity of a crime justify the vigilante justice of the father?   Will it bring the racial war to an end if everyone takes their own vengeance and leaves the police and justice system out of the equation?

       In recent true life court cases, we are seeing more tolerance being given by juries toward vigilante justice.  Do we really believe this is the solution to our problems, or do we so identify with the frustration of the victims that we quietly, and inwardly, give permission to one another to seek our own justice?

       When the film comes to a close, we had the uneasy feeling that in the bigger picture little was accomplished.   The community was not brought together in racial harmony, but rather, the two battle lines were visually more entrenched to do battle, and people are not safe from criminal violence or vigilante response.

       Though the final scene attempts to give us a sense of hope when Jake’s daughter and Carl Lee’s daughter meet, such hope has little foundation in the community to support it.

       If we are a people who truly desire peace among us, then we must all agree that there is never “A Time to Kill.”  While this film filled us with emotion, it is unfortunate that it never leaves you with a blueprint for a just society on any level.

 

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