What’s it about?

Have you seen the previous John Grisham film adaptation, "A Time To Kill"? If not, be warned – you might want to read our review of that movie before you make it your all-important Sunday night video. Like that movie, "The Chamber" takes us through the heartland of American racism, where nothing is forgiven and evil lurks around every corner.

Adam Hall is a young Chicago lawyer who ventures down South to represent a Death Row inmate. In a flashback we see the horrendous race crime that put his client there – of course, there’s more here than initially meets the eye. The convict, one Sam Cayhall, is the young lawyer’s long lamented grandfather.

Cayhall was a member in good standing of the Ku Klux Klan when he committed the crime, the bombing of the office of a Jewish civil rights lawyer. Unfortunately for everyone, including Cayhall, the lawyer’s children were in the building at the time of the explosion. Was that a deliberate part of the scheme, or did the timer attached to the bomb malfunction? To make it worse, the lawyer later committed suicide.

The execution is imminent, and Hall is there to take us through the final appeal processes. This being America, there are scenes of nutty protestors outside the prison, waving American flags in praise of a judicial system that will send a man to the gas chamber (hence the film’s title). Along the way we learn a lot, in fact too much, about the gruesome history of Cayhall’s family. The biggest skeleton in a very large closet is revealed by his Aunt Lee.

Adam Hall is a young lawyer who wants to break the bonds of racism that have infected his family like a genetic disease. He uses terms like "African American", much to his grandfather’s chagrin and sometimes disdainful amusement. So there’s the "good-guy/bad guy routine", the liberal versus the racist, and the young whippersnapper at the heels of the vulgar old patriarch. Not to mention the completely unprepared lawyer at odds with the finest minds of American jurisprudence as he wends his way through the maze of the appeals process.

The pluses

Gene Hackman, as always. And Faye Dunaway’s impressive Southern accent.

The scene of the explosion is well staged and believable. The mother’s anguish is dignified and real, and the death of her innocent children stays with us as a voice of conscience, just in case we’re swayed by Cayhall’s sly rhetoric.

The minuses

Some of the racist rantings are a bit hard to take. Yes, there’s a point of sorts to be made, and we are presented with a moral dilemma as to the character of Sam Cayhall, but there is not enough meat in this plot to justify the obnoxious content. Are we meant to feel sorry for Sam as he makes his way to that great Klan meeting in the sky? This reviewer, for one, found it difficult to erase the soundtrack of hate that poured from Cayhall’s mouth for much of the movie.

There is too much made of the family’s history, and not enough of the legal process that will decide Sam’s fate. No, we’re not saying this because we’re lawyers. In the book, Grisham is able to develop the thrilling race against the clock as appeals are rejected and the execution nears. There is no time for this in the film, and instead we are left with the tawdry history of the Cayhall’s in all its gory detail.

Not nearly enough to keep us guessing.

The legal point

Unfortunately we don’t learn too much about the appeals process for prisoners awaiting execution. The novel by John Grisham is a lot more helpful in this fascinating area.

Here in Australia we imagine an execution would be big news, but in the U.S. it’s almost commonplace (in the wider scheme of things). This year they can expect at least 75 executions.

However, there have been hiccups on the way to the gallows (electric chair etc) for proponents of the death penalty. In 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was "cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments". States rewrote their statutes to get around the "cruel" aspect of the death penalty by giving more guidance and standards to juries before they sentenced a person to death. In 1976 the Supreme Court ruled in favour of a number of rewritten statutes, and since then more than 300 prisoners have been executed.

The manner of execution differs between states. Mostly it is now accomplished by lethal injection, but electrocution and hanging remain in operation in a few states.

There usually needs to be an element of aggravation to invite a death sentence (usually murder) – for instance, brutality or the number of victims. The capital murder trial has two stages – in the first stage there is a trial of the facts (did the defendant do it?); in the second stage, having been found guilty, the sentence is decided. The jury has to decide whether the defendant should be executed or jailed for life. At this stage the jury will learn about the defendant’s past, previous criminal record etc.

It is then we move into the "appeal" phase. After the sentence of death, there are appeals through at least four jurisdictions, where judges look at the transcripts of the original trial to decide whether a mistake was made by the first trial judge. Finally the prisoner can appeal to the Governor of the state – this is what happens in "The Chamber" (we’re not revealing the outcome here).

In Australia there is no longer a death penalty in any state. This is the result of a 1973 Act of Parliament known as the Death Penalty Abolition Act. It states that a person is not liable to be punished by death for any offence.

Who put it together?

Screenwriter, William Goldman has a pedigree that would make most movie writers give the game away: "Butch Cassidy", "All The President’s Men", "Princess Bride", "Marathon Man", "Maverick", "Misery" (amongst others).

Director, James Foley has a number of good projects behind him, including the star studded "Glengarry Glen Ross" (well worth a look on video if you like tense character-driven drama), "Reckless", "Who’s That Girl" and "Fear".

Who’s who?

Chris O’Donnell is wholesomeness personified. He got a big break at the age of 17 opposite the wonderful Jessica Lange in an otherwise forgotten film "Men Don’t Leave". You first got to know him as the kid daunted by his association with Al Pacino (who won an Oscar) in "Scent of a Woman". Then yet another remake of "The Three Musketeers", merely a prelude to his ongoing role as Robin in the "Batman" franchise. He has now formed his own production company.