RIFLE RANGE BOY: Everything is out of order!

And Justice for All (1979)

Director: Norman Jewison

During one of those festivities gatherings, we managed to pin down one of our old schoolmates. That was quite an achievement, for he was and still is a senior partner in one of KL's outstanding law firms. We created a hypothetical situation. What if he, as a lawyer, either gets a client who admits his crime at the onset or, along the course of the trial, would he still continue to defend his client?

In so many words, with mentions of the right to proper legal representation and duty to the client, our layman's minds understood that he would still continue defending his client. His task was to ensure that his client was free of his charge. Of course, he would not purposely make his opponent win, knowing pretty well that his client committed the offence. Nowhere in the conversation was justice and seeking the truth uttered. Justice is what the court determines, and the truth is what is argued out.

This must have been what the Sophists of the Greek tradition would have wanted - a skill in public speaking so convincing that one is able to sell ice to the Eskimo.

Recent events in this country prove that the legal arm is not there to seek the truth or dispense justice. It is just a question of who is holding the mantle of power. Seeing how often we see the arm of the Law bending backwards to the tunes of the members occupying the corridor of power is nauseating.

Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) sees all these in force in the courts. Haughty judges throw their weights around, suspects are treated like dirt, and the system has no time for the common man. Around him, he sees many dysfunctional attorneys move around like zombies playing to the tune of the system. Kirkland punches a judge when the judge repeatedly makes it difficult for his case to be put forward. For that, Kirkland spends a day in jail.

So Kirkland is perplexed when he is called to defend the judge he punched. The judge is charged with assault. The system feels that hiring a lawyer who abhors the judge would strengthen his case. He sees the system as existing to take of each other's interests. The last of their concerns is to improve the dispensing of justice, the welfare of the accused or reduce the number of those wrongly accused.

Kirkland is threatened about his long-forgotten breach of client-attorney confidentiality case. He has no choice but to accept the offer. Along the way, he discovers more dirty secrets about the judge and rots about the system.

7.5/10. Good watch.