Top Ten Films About Law - Mark Furse
When people talk about films about law, they most often are talking about films about trials. The courtroom is an obvious source of drama – with right versus wrong (sometimes), winners and loser, tensions and surprise twists. Criminal legal procedure films – identifying and catching the villain, and bringing her to justice are also of course common. Courtroom and legal procedurals have been a staple of TV, from Perry Mason, through LA Law, and Ally McBeal to The Good Wife and The Good Fight. There are hundreds of good films from around the world using these formats, but I am going to take a broader approach in this list, starting with legal education. There are two obvious films I am not including in this top ten: To Kill a Mockingbird or A Few Good Men, although the first is great, and the second is good. These are my top ten films about law, and its failings.
Legal education
The Paper Chase (James Bridges, 1973) – Before there was Legally Blonde (a film I love) there was The Paper Chase. Older colleagues may remember that this spawned a popular late ‘70s TV series. The glamour of Harvard, its physical attraction, and the drama of the Socratic teaching method translate very well to film. This won John Houseman the Best Supporting Actor Oscar (note that he was an uncredited writer on Citizen Kane, and a very important mentor to Orson Welles). Legally Blonde clearly draws on The Paper Chase leaving quite a bit in place, while gender-swapping both the student and the professor. [86% on Rotten Tomatoes]
Judges and their role
Belle (Amma Asante, 2013) – Drawing its inspiration from an 18th century portrait in Scone Palace, this film was Gugu Mbatha Raw’s big break. Belle, a girl of mixed race, is taken into care by her grandfather, Lord Mansfield, after the death of her father. Lord Mansfield gave the judgment in Somerset v Stewart (1772) 98 ER 499, which in essence declared that slavery was unlawful under the common law of England and Wales. The film is accurate as to the background of the case, and posits that Dido Belle was influential in developing Lord Mansfield’s approach. It’s beautifully shot, and Gugu Mbatha Raw is sensationally good. The trope of the 'good judge', objective and impartial is here both to the fore, and (re impartiality) challenged. [84% on Rotten Tomatoes]
RBG (July Cohen and Betsy West, 2018) – Remarkably, 2018 gave us two films about Ruth Bader Ginsburg (although perhaps it is not too remarkable that in these times the search for liberal icons is strong); On the Basis of Sex was a biopic starring Rogue One’s (and The Archers’) Felicity Jones as RBG, and it wasn’t bad. The documentary however is much better. [94% on Rotten Tomatoes]
Building a case
Erin Brockovich (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) – It is less common for film to focus on civil litigation than on criminal litigation, so it’s welcome to be able to highlight this mainstream Hollywood film from a very slick director; based on the work of the real-life Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts. The story is by now probably well known, and you will likely have seen this, but it's worth revisiting. This year’s Dark Waters (Todd Haynes) takes a very similar approach, and is also very good (and so nice to bump into a colleague on the way out!). [84% on Rotten Tomatoes]
Trials
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959) – this started well, right down to the famous and influential poster design. James Stewart is great as the small-town lawyer defending Lee Remick from a murder charge. This is just as good as To Kill a Mockingbird, although perhaps less well known. It also deals equally well with injustice and prejudice. [100% on Rotten Tomatoes]
The Verdict (Sidney Lumet, 1982) – Another really good film based on civil litigation (see Erin Brockovich above) this focuses on the court room drama as Paul Newman’s washed up alcoholic lawyer takes on a medical negligence case. The screenplay is by the great David Mamet. [88% on Rotten Tomatoes]
12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) – Two films in a row by Sidney Lumet! If you have not seen this, you should have. We’re in the jury room and don’t get to see the trial, other than refracted through jury discussion, in the course of which prejudices are exposed, and the sanctity of the trial by jury process is emphasised. The film betrays its origins as a Broadway play, but there are exceptional performances, particularly from Henry Fonda. There’s a 1997 remake which is not bad, save for the fact that it is utterly pointless. [100% on Rotten Tomatoes]
Attribution of guilt and imposition of punishment
Minority Report (Stephen Spielberg, 2002) – If the purpose of criminal law is, in part, to defend society from wrong-doing would it not be great if we could act before the crime, and perhaps even before the perpetrator contemplated the crime? This was the basis of a short story by Philip K Dick (best known as author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – aka, Blade Runner) which was then turned into this effective sci-fi thriller starring Tom Cruise. [90% on Rotten Tomatoes]
Miscarriage of justice
Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988) – This 1998 documentary (which formed the basis for one of the essays on my Diploma in Film Studies back in the day) broke the rules regarding objectivity and story-telling blending classical documentary, with dramatic reconstruction, and massively influenced the new wave of documentary-dramas in the 1990s onwards. It also resulted in the overturning of a wrongful death row conviction. [100% on Rotten Tomatoes]
Just because there is a legal solution…
The Story of Qiu Ju (Qui Ju da guan si) (1992, Zhang Yimou) – There was a period in the late 1980s and early-mid 1990s when the Chinese directors of the so-called fifth generation were making some of the best films in the world. This stars Gong Li, ‘muse’ to both Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, as a woman determined to pursue a case of local injustice to the utter limit to secure her victory. In the process of seeking formal judicial resolution she flouts social convention and all available (and strongly ingrained) methods of ADR. While she ultimately triumphs we are asked to question whether the victory was worth the cost of the social disruption and her own ostracism. [86% on Rotten Tomatoes]
~ Mark Furse
Mark Furse is a Professor of Competition Law and Policy at the School of Law.
