Blind Faith

1998 "What would you be willing to sacrifice to keep your family secrets?"
7.2| 2h2m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 23 November 1998 Released
Producted By: Showtime Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.sho.com/sho/movies/titles/97913/blind-faith#/index
Info

in 1957, black lawyer defends his nephew, who faces the death penalty for murdering a white boy.

Genre

Drama, TV Movie

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Blind Faith (1998) is now streaming with subscription on Freevee

Director

Ernest R. Dickerson

Production Companies

Showtime Films

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Blind Faith Audience Reviews

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Richie-67-485852 A movie that commanded a ten is upon you. Acting, story, directing and the points made all find their target into the pit of your stomach and then your heart. What is it that can reach out and then grab someone to this depth and purpose? Injustice for one. No man with a conscience can stand to see a wrong go unpunished or unaddressed and remain disturbed while standing by and doing nothing. Here we see the hopelessness of playing by all the known rules only to find out that the rules don't work when you need them the most. The factor? Human Betrayal. Eternal Truth doesn't come and go but personal truths fall short and that point is delivered here up front, close and personal...right in your face. As far as portraying accurately the theme of prejudice, this movie excels. To be black was not a pleasant experience in America at times and have you noticed that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution only work if we all agree that it should. One redeeming point however comes through in this movie and that is to do what is fair, honest and right and I don't care what color you are, those quality make you shine. Failure to do this and those same very dynamics accuse you too. I enjoyed some pizza slices followed by some fruit and then some popcorn with a tasty drink. No cell phones. Pay attention and let your soul be moved and fed
sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Going out to Van Cordlandt Park in the Bronx one evening in the summer of 1957 to get some air Charile Williams Jr, Garland Whitt, ends up beaten within an inch of his life by a gang of Irish teenagers who claimed that he tried to mug one of them. In fact Charlie didn't mug young Pat Sullivan,Michael Longstaff, he murdered him. Charlie strangled Sullivan to death before his friends could get Charlie off him! With a 1st degree murder charge hanging over his head Charlie now faces the hot seat in Sing Sing prison if he's convicted. And in Charlie being black and his victim Pat Sullivan Irish and white that's an absolute certainty with the city of New York in danger of exploding into race riots if Charlie ends up getting off. The fact that Charlie signed a written confession to the crime he's charged with they, the court, might as well forgo a trail and send him straight to death row!It's Charlie's concerned pop Charles Williams, Charles Dutton, a NYPD policemen who gets his kid brother defense attorney John, Courtney B. Vance, to defend Charlie and somehow try to get the death penalty thrown out by showing that Charlie's killing of Pat Sulliavn was not as clear cut or cold blooded as it at first seemed to be. Facing a brick wall in trying to find evidence in Charlie's favor John does find an eye witness to the Sullivan murder and elderly black lady Mrs. Berry, Birdie M. Hale, who lived in an apartment overlooking Van Cordlandt Park when the killing took place. What shocks John in Mrs. Barry's testimony is her description of the shirt that Charlie was wearing that night: powder blue instead of the one he was arrested with deep red! Yet Mrs. Berry swears that that's, powder blue, the color of the shirt that Charlie was wearing! What was not known at the time is that two murders were committed in the park that night. One of Pat Sulliavn and another of a back teenager wearing a powder blue shirt just like the one that Mrs.Berry described!It'a almost by accident that law student Frank, Alex Krzis, who's helping john on the case mistakingly hands him over a murder report that took place at the park that night, July 5, 1957, of a young black teenager from Brooklyn named David Mercer, Joel Gordon. Mercer was murdered the very day or night in the very same place, Van Cortlandt Park, that Charlie was arrested for murdering Pat Sullivan!***MAJOR SPOILERS*** John seeing that there's some connection to both Sullivan and Mercer's murders is socked to find out from his reefer smoking beatnik and saxophone playing brother, the black sheep in the Williams family, Eddie played by Kadeem Hardison that the two, Charlie and David, were secretly having an homosexual affair behind everyone's back! The fact that his son is gay is something that his policeman macho father Charles Williams had found out the night that Charlie was arrested and together with his fellow cops kept that hidden from the D.A's office. It's also a fact that Charlie killed Sullivan in self defense after he and his gang murdered Charlie's gay lover David and then tried to murder him as well! But to keep his son's gay lifestyle secret his father is more then willing to let Charlie Jr end up in the electric chair to keep that secret from his family friends and fellow policemen!Deeply disturbing as well as touching movie about innocence lost in the big city circa 1957 when in the mind of many, men and women, back then in one, man or woman, being gay was worse then death itself. Charlie himself was more then willing to get executed as a convicted cold blooded murderer rather then him admit that he killed only in self defense when attacked by a gang of white teenagers, who tried to murder him, because of his sexual preference. John trying to get Charlie to go public in court about the circumstances in his killing of Pat Sullivan got nowhere with him as well as his father Charles Williams who was steadfast in keeping his son's, who he was grooming to be a member of the NYPD, gay lifestyle secret. ***MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER***It was only when the end was near and Charlie was on his way to the execution chamber that his dad Charles Williams broke down and called on brother John to go public by telling the state governor and local D.A the extenuating circumstances surrounding Charlie's killing of Pat Sullivan. But by that time it was too late! Charlie Jr pulled off a Hermann Goering by cheating the hangman, or in this case electric chair, by hanging himself just hours before he was to be executed! That without Charlie knowing that he had a very good chance of having his pending execution suspended with the new evidence that his uncle John was about to make public!
fineart5 I saw this movie today never having heard about it before. What a gift to have found it. That being said, I decided to look up some additional info about it's background and cast. I came across this message board and felt compelled to comment.While this is on the surface a racial, sexual orientation, legal drama I found it to be much more universal than that. I am a married white heterosexual woman and the theme that I came away with is how destructive negativity and hatred are and how beautiful love and acceptance can be on every level. Negativity and hatred affect us all from a soul level right to our global community. While love and positivity has the opposite profound ability to bring warmth and light into our lives.I was so moved by the end of the movie and the narrators last words about living a life dedicated to change. After the recent loss of my own son I too now live a life full of purpose. That purpose being to bring about a change of love and positivity to my own life and those within the greater community. Change on the grand scale is a slow process because belief comes from experience and patience is a requirement. But,once one feels the effects of such a change it is our greatest desire to highlight and make obvious the powers of love, acceptance and positive action for each and every soul on our planet regardless of our differences.
sychonic It's difficult to understand the mentality of the film industry when it comes to content that deals with bigotry and race. While trash like like "The Hurricane" get wide distribution, quality films like "Blind Faith" are ignored. I caught this movie early in the morning on a Sunday on a cable movie station, it was really the only thing on. Lucky me. The movie was so powerful I was amazed I'd never heard of it, not an advertisement, review, nothing.The basic plot consists of a black accused of murdering a white and caught up in the legal system of the pre-Civil Rights era. Now that plot line is about as old as they come--well trod territory done with excellence in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and with ugly stupidity in "The Hurricane". But this movie gives us more and better than most legal oriented films of any kind. The film centers on an African-American lawyer, solidly acted by Courtney Vance, defending his nephew who steadfastly refuses to explain the circumstances behind the charge. This serves to explain the lawyer's relationship with his two brothers, one a policeman and father of the accused, and the other, a ne'er-do-well jazz musician. Charles S. Dutton is outstanding as the police officer, tormented and conflicted when his son is accused of murder. He's worked hard and long to achieve his success and status, and it's compelling to watch his rage at seeing all he's built teetering on the edge of a precipice. Courtney B. Vance puts in a fine performance as the lawyer, who is barely able to control his emotions through much of the film. His despair, confusion and anger cause him to periodically lash out, often to the detriment of his own cause.Kadeem Hardison, not a great actor to begin with, muddles through as the jazz musician other brother, a really unnecessary addition, but it serves as an excuse to listen to some really fine music, so perhaps that's reason enough for his inclusion.But for the most part, these are actual characters with nuance and depth, real people caught in a complex situation, not cardboard heroes with cardboard virtues who mouth inane slogans.In one scene the black lawyer coaches a witness to lie on the stand, to commit perjury, out of desperation. In another, the judge upbraids him after he yells at a witness, concluding with "remember your place." The judge could easily be referring to the courtroom and his role as lawyer, or is it a racist comment, as the character takes it to be? The ambiguity enriches the movie, allowing the viewer to think, to ponder the circumstances. The white characters are not evil, they come off mostly as people just trying to do their jobs the best they can. The legal aspect of the movie is very well done too--no torturing the legal system with ridiculous departures from real process, or inane speeches that would be instantly ruled out of order in a real courtroom. The resolution, and a very compelling one it is, doesn't give anybody an easy out--it doesn't allow the viewer to just sit back and feel self satisfied, or blather on about a racist leviathan. It forces one to think about the nature of bigotry and prejudice. I won't say more, since to do so would give away the stellar climax.Perhaps the only flaw is the voice over at the end that explains what happens after the story essentially ends. It's needless and kind of silly, and really only detracts from what is a great film. It's as if the film makers don't trust themselves enough to totally follow through with the ambiguity with which they've left the viewers. It's unfortunate, but a common sin in Hollywood.