Amongst the many folks vying for attention from blawgers, some of whom are total nutjobs (like the evangelical ministry that won’t stop sending me crap about how Obama is a Muslim communist), is the Innocence Project, a group for whom I have the highest regard.  When I receive something from the Innocence Project, I read it.

Yesterday, a couple of emails came in concerning a movie called “Conviction.”

In anticipation of Friday’s opening of Fox Searchlight’s film “Conviction” starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, I wanted to share a behind the scenes look at the real story behind the movie.  In the film, Swank portrays Betty Anne Waters in her quest to clear her brother, Kenny, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and eventually exonerated by DNA evidence with the help of the Innocence Project. 

Get the story behind the movie at our website.

The film’s real-life inspiration and heroine, Betty Anne Waters will be hosting a criminal justice blogger conference call next week where she will discuss her fight to free Kenny;  I am writing to gauge your interest and availability to join us for that.

For those of you too lazy to click on the link, here’s the trailer:

This matters to me.  I’ve been sent numerous books that chronicle wrongful convictions, whether from the death penalty perspective or the mechanics of false identification or confession.  They are deeply disturbing and depressing.  And only the most dedicated singers in the choir will ever read them.  I’m part of the choir, and I haven’t reviewed the books, as requested, because I can’t make it through them. It’s not that they aren’t worthy or well-written, but I can only bear so many stories of misery.

But a movie with Hillary Swank is an entirely different matter.  Even though it may be a dramatization of a real event, it has the power to move people, to convey the ideas and ideals that are dryly discussed amongst those of us who have fought against wrongful convictions and know the dangers of a system that others trust implicitly.

This could be huge.

Upon receiving the email, it was clear that this was the sort of thing that I wanted very much to promote.  But there was one small detail that needed to be addressed.  I hasn’t actually seen the movie.  I didn’t actually know what the message was.  It’s not that I don’t trust the Innocence Project, despite Barry Scheck’s sartorial choices, but to take up the cause by promoting this film was a personal endorsement.  How could I do this without anything more than a trailer and the Innocence Project’s say-so?

My response to the email was to request that they send me a review copy so I could see it for myself and speak about it from personal knowledge.  I haven’t received a response as yet.

The movie is opening tomorrow in big cities.  Will it capture the public’s imagination and interest, or go straight to DVD?  Does it speak to the problems that people need to learn about or devolve into some far-fetched tear-jerker that offers no applicability to the problems of the criminal justice system?  I don’t know.  I can’t say.

This isn’t to suggest that my endorsement will mean much of anything, and the movie may be a huge hit, an Academy Award winner, and game-changer for the system, regardless of what one blawger thinks.  But they did find it worth their time to send out this email to blawgers seeking support in the promotion of the movie, and thereby the cause.  Somebody must think that we can offer something, however small, to the success of this film.

I want to help.  I want to be as loud and meaningful a voice in support of something that has the potential to say something important about a critical subject of concern. It’s not enough to ask me to blindly jump on the bandwagon of the cause and promote Conviction because you ask me to.   Give me the ability to help.