Murder in the First by Marc Rocco

Murder in the First

Connor

It has long been assumed that trust can rig the conception of justice by leaping over any limitations. Based on the true story, Murder in the first directed by Marc Rocco released in 1995. The film is about two men in different life. One is cold, dim, and artificially lit. The other is hopeful, idealistic, and enthusiastic. The film shows how two in different worlds start to trust each other. It is a good idea, and has an incredible power.

        In 1938, the orphan Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) is put into prison at 17 for stealing five bucks from a post office. It is just for feeding his starving younger sister. Accordingly, Mr. Henri is incarcerated in Leavenworth penitentiary, Kansar, later moved to Alcatraz which is well-known as notorious prison. His sister is delivered to orphanage. Therefore, it is the last moment to see her in the course of his life. One day, the young man dares to escape from the infamous jail with two other prisoners. Later, it turns out, he is thrown into the dungeons of Alcatraz — places where he spend more than three years naked and cringing in a dark, cold, solitary 6-feet-by-9-foot cell — due to the double cross of Rufus Mc Cain (David Michael Sterling). Small but creepy life, such as spider and rats, are the only tools not to lose a handful of his innate humanity.

According to the federal guideline on solitary confinement statement, the legitimate due is just 19 days. However, the prison’s unspeakably sadistic warden named Milton Glenn (Gary Oldman) shrugs off the policy. Glenn is kind of demigod in the prison: he cares nothing for the life of inmates. He hides Young’s poor health from state authorities for years, but even tortures the brutalized prisoner. In the scenes, the demonic and merciless warden day by day whips him, also cuts Henri’s Achilles tendon off with a portable knife. Besides these, the monster haunts over Henri. The bloodthirsty sound from the torment carries the slough of despond to size up how scared and aghast Henri is.  

After three years, Glenn releases the dehumanized inmate from the doom chamber. In a crowded dining hall, the dazed and addled Henri bring the traitor who he think wronged him to an end prompted with a spoon. The astonishing incident happens publicly in front of guards and hundreds of inmates. Owing to it, he is tried for murder, and fully enlightened that he is being destined to die in the toxic gas chamber. There is no question that he committed the crime. These incidents are all set forth in the film.

 In charge of this case nobody wants is an idealistic and vigorous lawyer James Stamphill (Christian Slater), fresh from the bar exam, who keeps his sturdy integrity in check.  His boss and other half suggest the young lawyer that the trial be regarded as a raw experience to real-world in preparation for his first real case. However, he does not brush off hopeless circumstances of the criminal. In courtroom, he admits his client’s cruelty, but also enthuses about the extreme decay of the correctional facility and confinement system. He opines that Young's years of seclusion and inhumane treatment per se are against the public conception of human being. It turns out the inexperienced public lawyer desirously takes on Alcatraz and the government. The trial flies to the whole nation including papers, magazines, etc. Hence, the young attorney and the guilty man stand alone against the system, facing countless adversities.