American Violet (2009)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Fact based story of a mother of four swept up in a drug sweep in Texas . She was arrested and held for three weeks on the word of a single informant. She was eventually released and with the help of the ACLU sued the district attorney and the police department who charged her. A solid ensemble cast (Alfre Woodard, Will Patton, Tim Brook Nelson, Charles Dutton, Michael O'Keefe) is the reason to see this otherwise by the numbers film. Its not that the story is unexciting, rather it's that the script and direction while very serviceable never fully excite the way they should. The result is a very good film that should have been great. Certainly this should not have felt even remotely like a TV movie, something it does at times. Reservations aside this is a film worth searching out, the cast is that good.

Powerfully produced and directed, "American Violet" is a film based on the racially charged drug war scandal that rocked the town of Hearne,Texas,several years ago,which explores the devastating impact of America's "war on drugs". Directed by Tim Disney and written by Bill Haney,the film has a powerful story to tell,fueled by the powerful cast which includes Alfre Woodard,Will Patton,Tim Blake Nelson,rapper/actor Xzibit(in a electrifying performance),and Emmy Award winning actor Charles S. Dutton.The film,as recounted here,the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of 15 African-American residents of Hearne who were indicted in November 2000 on drug charges after being rounded up in a series of unlawful paramilitary drug "sweeps". These undercover drug busts,which led to the arrest of 15 percent of the African-American men between the ages of 18 to 34 in Hearne,were uniformly undertaken based on the uncorroborated word of a single unreliable confidental informant coerced by police to make cases. The film centers around Dee(played by newcomer Nicole Beharie)who works a shift at the local diner. The powerful local district attorney(Academy Award nominee Michael O'Keefe)leads an extensive drug bust,sweeping her Arlington Springs housing project with aggressive military tactics. Police drag Dee from work in handcuffs,dumping her in the squalor of the women's county prison. Indicated based on the uncorroborated word of a single and dubious police informant facing his own drug charges,Dee soon discovers that she has been charged as a drug dealer. Even though Dee has no prior drug record and no drugs were found on her in the raid or any subsequent searches,she is offered a hellish choice:plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon with an attendant loss of her federal and state rights,thus jeopardizing the custody of her children and risking a long prison sentence. Despite the urgings of her mother(Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard),and with her freedom and custody of her children at stake,she chooses to fight the district attorney and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents in the state of Texas. Joined in an unlikely alliance with an ACLU attorney(Tim Blake Nelson),and former local narcotics officer(Will Patton),Dee risks everything in a battle that forever changes her life and the Texas justice system. "American Violet" is a hard-hitting Hollywood blockbuster of a film that tells the story of Regina Kelly,one of the people rounded up in a Tulia style drug bust in Hearne,Texas back in 1999. The Hearne tragedy would have never have come to light without Tulia in which people took a stand against the wrongdoings down there in which the people fought for their rights. The cast here in downright superb including the electrifying performance of newcomer Nicole Beharie as Dee Roberts,who took on the State of Texas and won not only her case against her,but her freedom.A gripping and suspenseful and emotional tale that became one of the official selected films for the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. And it is one of the year's best from 2008. The movie became the left-right combination of a scandal that changed the rules and regulations of the drug war in the State of Texas.

Lead actress Nicole Beharie makes a spectacular film debut here, with powerful supporting work from everyone involved. The film artfully brings to the fore serious questions about how the drug war is being waged. Based on court depositions and actual events of a specious drug raid based on (minor spoiler ahead) the word of a coerced informant to rig conviction stats, this is a wake-up call to anyone who was not aware of the politics of the drug "war". The subplot about the child custody struggle between the lead and Xzibit's character was also harrowing. There is also subtle interaction across racial lines that shows the complexity of how people interact in the south, particularly in the initial restaurant exchange between Dee and two patrons and between Dee and her restaurant employer. No one here is portrayed as a perfect angel, making the film feel very true to life.

I was honored to have the opportunity to catch a screening of American Violet's Texas premiere at the Paramount Theatre during Austin's SXSW Film Festival. The film tells the important story of Dee Roberts drug arrest in Melody, Texas in 2000. The story of the abuse of power by the criminal justice system is an important one that most Americans are not terribly familiar with. The story is generally well-acted and compelling as we are drawn through the story of Dee's clearly false arrest and prosecution. The line between fact and dramatic license does remain a little foggy and there is particularly unbelievable scene in which the local district attorney acts as some sort of family court judge who oversees a hearing to determine the custody of Dee's 4 children.The legal focus of the film does tend to bounce around from one issue to another – the problem of forced plea bargaining, the misuse of Federal drug task forces, the use of dishonest informants, the problem of fighting a "war on drugs," and finally focusing on blatant racism of District Attorney. All of these issues are certainly present in the criminal justice system, but the relationship and role of each is often confusingly presented and blurs the legal focus of the film. Nevertheless, the story remains powerful and the presentation is a potent one.Regardless of the limitations, some of which are inherent in the criminal docudrama, the film is well worth seeing, because of the important story that it tells about complex interaction between race, poverty and the criminal justice system that is often obscured from the view of much of the American public. The film deserves to be seen by those who still doubt the critical role of racism in American society - particularly in the criminal justice system.