Confused, single mother Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) reports that she has been carjacked by a black man, and that her four-year-old son was in the back seat. Police lockdown an all-black housing development and officers from the nearby, mainly-white, town, including Brenda’s aggressive brother (Ron Eldard), over-zealously push the residents for information on the child. Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) sees that something isn’t right with the case, and tries to find the child, uncover the truth, and reign in both the oppressive white establishment and the angry black mob. With time running out, he turns to Karen Collucci (Edie Falco), the head of a group of mothers that search for missing children.
Freedomland is a difficult movie to give a simple numeric rating. It has an important message and view, reminding us of something that should be on our minds at all times, but is says nothing new, and is depressing and unpleasant to watch. It engages the heart but not the mind. The acting is four star, and the score is stirring, but the cinematography and editing are weak. So, where does that put it?
For me, that puts it at 3
s, which in this case translates to: See it…once.
Director Joe Roth (who also took the chair for the ill-conceived and executed Christmas With the Kranks) has too much of a fast-cut, MTV sensibility for a serious drama. Luckily much of the film is simple dialog between two people, so he is forced to abandon his frenetic style. However, in the few cases when he can jiggle the camera and dice a scene, he leaps on it. He has also fallen victim to the idea that a grainy pictures lends stature and tension. What it lends is a desire to clean the lens and hire new folks for lighting and color correction. The film looks like it was shot on 16mm.
While Roth is clueless on what to do with Richard Price’s story of racial tension (which Price adapted from his novel), Jackson and Moore have no such problem. Both put in Oscar-worthy performances. Moore’s is the more showy as a lower-class, ignorant, ex drug addict (probably ex) who is caught somewhere between mental collapse and psychosis. This is one of those roles that will cause people to discuss at the water cooler (are there still water coolers out there in corporate America?) how she was willing to toss off her normal glam appearance. It’s not as extreme as Charlize Theron’s transformation in Monster, but this is not the sensual Moore that you’ve seen before. The quality of Moore’s performance ironically leads to another failing of the film. Several of her speeches go on way too long, repeating what we already know, and passing the point of maximum emotional impact to slide into dullness. I can see Roth and company standing in the editing room, saying “Well, we can’t cut that; she’s so good.” A more skilled director and editor would have known that they could.
Carrying the film is the always outstanding Jackson, who gives depth to his noble, but flawed cop. For the movie to work, there has to be someone the viewer can cling to, and just about everyone else displays how rotten humans can be. It isn’t the scripted character of Lorenzo Council who is worth the time, but what Jackson, with a look here, and minor tone change there, makes of him. Jackson is one of our finest living actors, and he continues to prove that in Freedomland.
Edie Falco is also impressive as Karen Collucci, the only other person I didn’t want to poke with a sharp stick. Collucci is a woman damaged by the loss of her own child, who turned that tragedy into a mission. She is the only one, including Council, who can approach the situation without prejudice, and her “interrogation” or Brenda Martin is meticulously staged and profoundly sad.
What Jackson, Moore, and Falco create are real people in a real and horrible situation, and that is both the virtue and flaw of the picture. This isn’t a fantasy, but a minor bit of “what if” in our world. There are no huge moments of relief, no exciting chases, no simple answers, and no tying up of all the loose ends, because that’s not how the real world works. The mystery isn’t all that mysterious (most actual crimes aren’t convoluted affairs like in James Bond flicks). Great sins turn out to be stupid mistakes, and there aren’t distinct lines between the good guys and the bad guys. People live sad lives and are treated unfairly for no good reason. The question is: does any of this make good entertainment? Well, not really. There’s a lot here to admire, and everyone who doesn’t live it needs the refresher on American race relations that Freedomland offers, but it’s hard to come away from a viewing with anything other than despair.