Trial by Fire
2018
**½
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Jack O'Connell, Laura Dern, Emily Meade, Chris Coy, Jeff Perry, David Wilson Barnes, Carlos Gómez, Jade Pettyjohn, Wayne Péré, Rhoda Griffis
In 1992, Cameron Todd Willingham is sentenced to death for the arson-related deaths of his three children. While on death row, he meets Elizabeth Gilbert, a divorced philanthropist, who becomes convinced that he didn't get a fair trial. Edward Zwick is a specialist in turning compelling fact-based stories into cheesy crowdpleasers. He is not able to give a happy ending to this true story, but he manages to fill the running time with clichés and trashy characters. As a commentary on capital punishment, Zwick's film is closer to The Life of David Gale than Dead Man Walking. Based on a 2009 New Yorker article Trial by Fire by David Grann.
