FOOT - Cleveland Film Festival Review

Crime After Crime directed by Yoav Potash



A. Personal Issues

     This film dealt with a lot of personal issues. To sum it up, it follows two environmentalist lawyers who volunteer to take on the case of Debbie Peagler, a woman who has been in prison for over twenty years. She was put away for first degree murder against her ex-boyfriend, Oliver Wilson. She did not commit this crime, but she did lead him to the area where it happened. He was not intended to die by Debbie's knowledge, she just wanted to scare him into leaving her alone. When Oliver was alive, he 'pimped' Debbie into prostitution and kept the money for himself, beat her physically and with a bullwhip. He also molested her daughter. She was told when she went to prison that she was going to be put up against the death penalty unless she pleaded guilty, which she did. This way she had 25-life and a chance to maybe see her family again. The two lawyers take on her case after her twentieth year, when a new law passed in California that allows domestic violence cases to be reopened if evidence can be provided that the person was abused. The team of Debbie, her lawyers and the film crew and director who got very involved help Debbie battle to her freedom, which seems like a losing battle. The courts were basically in the wrong twenty years ago, and try to cover up their mistakes by continuing to lie and keep Debbie in jail to cover their own butts. The lawyers eventually find out that at maximum, Debbie should have had six years in prison. Shortly before hitting the courts again, Debbie is diagnosed with termianl lung cancer, and the race to free her quickens. The issues range from domestic violence, abuse (both mentally and physically), and forgiveness. I think that forgiveness is the biggest part of this, because Debbie ends up seeking and receiving forgiveness from Oliver's family. Hope and the loss of hope are also important issues in the film, since Debbie's hopes keep going up then getting stomped on by the District Attorney.

B. Technique

     The technique that the director used was incredible. It was go from your standard documentary shots of somebody talking with files and books behind them, to a chilling shot of a rose outside of the prison that Debbie was in. The technique showed a lot of symbolic elements, such as the rose, which is beautiful but still has thorns. I felt like it showed how Debbie was throughout the film. She was strong and beautiful like the rose, but still had the thorns which to me represented her past. Another shot like this was after she gets denied parole, it cuts to a shot of roadkill outside of the prison. This showed her feelings, which were helpless and empty like the roadkill. Basically, the director used a technique of incorporating symbolism to tell the side of the story that he could not blantantly come out and say because it was a documentary with real feelings and actions, so he had to show these things so we would understand since he could not make these things up.

C. Acting

     The acting in this film was incredible...because it was real. The film is a documentary, so we are witnessing real actions when they really happen. I am sure that they had to stage some things, such as a phone call where the film crew may not have been present or something, but a majority of it was real. I thought that seeing real emotion on film was amazing, and a documentary was perfect for that. There was a scene where one of the characters gets good news and is happy, then just breaks down and cries. The director said that it was real, and it carried on through my vision of the film. 

D. Plot

     The plot was something that I mentioned primarily in the 'personal issues' section. I suppose I could go forth to say that it was carried on in a real and brilliant way. I feel that since this film took years to make, it had a very intense and everchanging plot. The director had no way of knowing whether or not Debbie would ever be free, and he did not know where his story was going. I think that the way it was edited and carried out was great. He arranged the many different scenes of people talking in a way that made the plot run smoothly, which was great because he had a big story to tell, and no way of knowing which way it was going.

E. Themes

     The main themes in this story, to me, are forgiveness and hope. Debbie was forgiven by Oliver's family, which would be very hard for them to do. Even though he did absolutely horrifying things to her, she was still in a sense involved in his death. She never intended to have him killed, just beat up so he would leave her alone. His family ended up speaking on the stand to help free her, which was very big of them. Hope if another theme that is evident throughout the whole story. We watch Debbie's eyes fill up with hope and happiness, then watch them fade to black when she hears bad news. As a viewer, I had hope as well throughout the whole film. Debbie also has a profound love and faith for God, and she mentions it and shows it to us throughout the story. I think that hope and forgiveness are the main themes in this story, and they are very easy to see as you progress through the film.

F. Genre

    The genre of this film was 'documentary' I suppose when it all comes down to it, but it was also a drama and a story fulled of hope. It could also be placed into the crime genre. I think that the story had so many elements that it would be hard to place just one, but I think that people who are into the judicial system as well as stories filled with hope and truth would enjoy it. Being a true story also could be another genre that it could fit into.

G. Representation

     The way the film was represented, as I have said before, was amazing. It was shown as it happened, and I know it had to have taken a lot of work to get the information he did. The symbolism that he used in his technique made it be represented in a way that was compassionate to Debbie and her story. Also, it was represented in a way that made the viewer feel real emotions and get drawn right into the story. I have never had a movie move me like this one did. Following the story for years made it intriguing as well.

H. Ideology

     The film has many ideologies throughout it, because it has both political and judicial elements. The film steers into the direction of being on Debbie's side, which you should be because she was basically innocent throughout the whole thing and wrongfully incarcarated. The political elements in it were enough to make the viewer angry with the way the world works and how courts can away with fraudulent evidence as well as the use of perjury on the stand.

Overall...

     Overall I am so happy I went to see this movie. It made me laugh, cry and feel anger as real and raw emotions that I have not felt in a long time through film. I have never been so attached to characters, and I think it was because they are real people with real feelings and I got to see that through this film. I think that the director did a great thing by making this film and spreading awareness about domestic abuse as well. I never even heard of Debbie and I am glad that I did because although her story was heart-wrenching, it was true and I learned a lot from watching it.