Trial by Fire

The movie is painstakingly well made and murderously hard to sit through.

The performances are inspired.

Trial by Fire is completely reignited by the scenes between Dern and O’Connell, who form a compelling bond through a thick sheet of plexiglass. More than just an acting masterclass, the probing, delicate conversations between their characters build towards a harrowing tap dance between hope and surrender.

It’s a haunting, heartbreaking story, told by a movie that never quite makes a case for itself to exist.

But Zwick and Fletcher, in their eagerness to make an argument against the death penalty, needlessly stack the deck.

It’s a tale full of sound and fury, signifying something that’s nothing less than appalling.

Powerful stuff, but unpowerfully told.