Movie Review – Find me Guilty
iView Author: The Narcissist
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City/Country : Goa, India
Movie Review – Find me Guilty
Movie – Find me Guilty
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Its a pity that this never made it to the theatres in India. Atleast not in Hyderabad where I was based when it was released. Or I wouldn’t have been deprived of watching this beauty for so long. Chanced to pick up the DVD a couple of months ago as the premise looked interesting and it was directed by Sidney Lumet. And have watched it thrice since.
The movie is based on a true story to the extent that even some of the dialogue is actual testimony from the court records. The scene is the longest ever trial in the history of the US….one that lasted for 21 months. And the main player is Jackie DiNorscio (Diesel), a mafia big gun, who practically tore apart the prosecution’s tight case. Sidney Lumet, a master of both the courtroom (Twelve Angry Men, The Verdict) as well as the true story (Dog Day Afternoon) genres, combines the two to create another masterpiece, a courtroom drama based on a true story.
Jackie is the loud-mouthed incharge of the drug business of the Luchhese family of NY/NJ and is convicted to 30 years for a busted drug deal. He’s offered leniency in this sentence in return for turning state witness in a RICO (an american act to fight organised crime) trial involving 20 of the top brass of the Luchhese family. He refuses to go against the people he loves and after firing his ineffective lawyer, decides to represent himself in the RICO trial. And he takes on the might of the DA’s office as well as the utter contempt of the top boss, Nick Calabrese (Alex Rocco).
Sidney Lumet’s direction is up there among his best. The court scenes are aesthetically done and the humour is classy, though a bit cliched at times. The dialogues are awash with wit and are a real treat. The narration of the movie doesn’t leave much scope for other technicians like the editor, cinematographer etc. to display a lot, but the movie is pretty decent in these departments.
The standout exchange in the movie goes thus…
Jackie is cross examining an Irish-American FBI agent. In response to the FBI agent’s contention that his surveillance subjects were italians because they were backslapping and kissing the honcho’s ring, Jackie comes up with this…How bout me sayin that I went to a restaurant and saw a group of irishmen? Youse askin me how I know that and I says well…they were all drunk and vomitting all over the floor.”
Agent : If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, chances are, it is a duck.
Jackie : Walks like an asshole, looks like an asshole, talks like an asshole, its gotta be an asshole.
Or maybe one would prefer this subtle one that’s part of Jackie’s opening statement – I’m not a Gangster. I’m a Gagster. Either ways, you’re in for a treat.
The most surprising (pleasant at that) aspect of the movie was Vin Diesel’s inspired performance as Jackie DiNorscio. He slips between the multiple roles of an arrogant mafia boss; a concerned family man and a glib talking courtroom brawler with the smoothness of a Paul Newman. And from the time he gives his opening statement in court, he brings on a roller coaster of funny lines, gags and deadpan logic. And he’s ably supported by Peter Dinklage as the midget attorney for another co-defendant. Another not to miss performance is a cameo Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra as Jackie’s ex-wife.
I’d rate this one a rocking 3.5/5.
Tags: Find Me Guilty, Jackie DiNorscio, Sydney Lumet
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I did watch some of Lumet’s movies- Dog Day Afternoon( my favorite), Serpico, 12 Angry Men and the Verdict. Have not heard much of this one, and later checking on this, found it was a flop. But sounds interesting, and will try catching it, though not a big fan of Vin Diesel.
Ratnakar…trust me, you’re in for a surprise. Even I didn’t think much of Diesel as an actor, but he’s really showed some spunk in this movie.
i love this movie…vin was and is an amazing choice for this part!!