CONVICTION (USA 2010) ***1/2
Directed by Tony Goldwyn

The part of the villain Tony Goldwyn played in then1990 fantasy love story GHOST must have haunted him to direct CONVICTION. In GHOST he framed and killed innocent Patrick Swayze to have his character return as a ghost to prove his innocence.  In CONVICTION, the sister of an innocent man convicted of a gruesome murder, completes high school, graduates from law school and as a lawyer proves his brother’s innocence.

If the story sounds far-fetched, it is actually is the true story of Betty Anne Waters (Two-time Oscar winner Hillary Swank), an unemployed single mother who, with the help of attorney Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher) from the Innocence Project, exonerated her wrongfully convicted brother, Kenneth Waters (Sam Rockwell).  She accomplished this while raising two boys alone and working as a waitress part-time. While in law school she began investigating her brother’s case.

The script by Pamela Gray tells the story in chronological order, but inter-cuts current events with flashbacks of the two siblings often playing together and often running into trouble for their mischievousness.  The tactic serves to enforce the reasoning (the bond) behind Betty Anne’s dedication to set her brother free.  The film begins with the lady cop (Melissa Leo) arresting Kenneth.  This scene is crucial and remains in the mind of the audience throughout the film.
The character of Kenneth is questionable.  Goldwyn portrays him as no saint.  Kenneth brawls in bars and loses his temper ever so often.  The film also never firmly states his innocence during the first half of the movie, so that one often wonders if Betty Anne’s actions were not totally in vain.  But the audience is led to believe Betty Anne when she will not stand to hear anyone doubt her brother’s innocence.  In one crucial scene, she throws her best friend (Mimi Driver) out of her house during a dinner for this reason.

Swank is again almost perfect for this kind of role, that of a person (BOYS DON’T CRY) fighting for a right or for some almost impossible course.  Of the supporting cast, Driver and especially Leo stand out as the unconditional best friend and as the cop who frames Kenneth respectively.

Though the film gets too sentimental at times, the drama is effective and the audience is made to feel both the anguish of bother siblings - Kenneth’s desperation and lost of hope and Betty Anne’s frustrations.  If there is any anger generated in the movie, it is not against the legal system or any single person (the crime of the lady cop is attributed to her mistreatment as the only female in the police force) but at how any established system could screw up the life of a decent human being.

Kenneth waited 18 years to be set a free man, ironically almost the same number of years director Goldwyn took to direct this movie of a similar theme after GHOST.  The film fails to mention the death of Kenneth Waters, 6 months after his release – the fact obviously undermining the whole purpose of setting him free to enjoy the rest of his full life.