Redeemer

Starring:Matthew Modine, Obba BabatundÃ©, Michele Greene, John Topor, Gouchy Boy, Roland Rothchild, Benz Antoine, Daniel Brochu, Dave Lapommeray, Marlon Sterling Long, Bruce Dinsmore, Patrick Sabongui, Joey Elias, Chip Chuipka, Omari Newton, Larry Day, Dorothy Dandridge, Emily VanCamp, Michael Gilmour (II), Cas Anvar
Director: Graeme Clifford
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

When a Black Panther raid on the house of a dope dealer goes awry, an innocent young man is killed and the leader of the raid team, a Panther named Charles Henderson (Obba Babatunde), is sentenced to life in prison. Bestselling author Paul Freeman (Modine) offers a creative-writing class in Henderson's prison, initially looking for a story for his next book; but when Henderson becomes his student, Freeman starts to investigate Henderson's case and becomes convinced that, after 20 years, Henderson deserves to be released--but the next step is convincing the sister of the man whose death Henderson is responsible for. Redeemer is a bit obvious, but the script does tackle its subject from a variety of perspectives, the direction is clean and straightforward, and the performances have commitment and energy--Babatunde is particularly compelling. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Sincere performances rescue a very weak script.......2005-10-29

A former Black Panther (Obba Babatunde) is put in prison for taking part in a botched robbery attempt of a dope house
in which he was the leader. During the botched robbery, a white unarmed college student was
accidentially murdered. 20 years later, the slain victim's sister writes letters to every parole hearing
admonishing them to prevent Charles Henderson's release. Highly protective of her daughter and living
in a gated community, she lives in a bubble world with 4 locks on her front door.

The monotony of prison life is interrupted when Paul Freeman (Matthew Modine) enters the prison as a creative writing teacher.
In reality he is an international best selling author in search of material for his next book.
During a class assignment Matthew Modine learns that one of his students, a writer with talent,
may be wrongfully imprisoned and deserve release. He investigates the prisoners past and uncovers
disturbing facts which he believes are proof that he was set up on the night of the botched robbery.

Matthew Modine learns more about Charles Henderson and realizes he's a decent man. He has 2 sons
outside the prison walls that visit him, a former wife, and he's a talented writer. He is genuinely remorseful
for what happened, and demonstrates a strong sense of Fatherhood to his son who is in college.
He delivers books in the prison and has his son bring in specially chosen books for him to read.
Motivated by these facts, and by Charles Henderson's future as a successful writer, he confronts anyone
who could assist in having him released from prison. Charles Henderson has served 20
years in prison in the Dalesboro Correctional Facility. He confronts the sister (Michele Greene)
to the murdered college student and asks for her to help him at the parole hearing to have
Charles Henderson released, on the grounds that he has a son to raise and is a decent man who is remorseful
and served his time.

I like the film because it went where it was expected to and the film is about forgiveness.

However, the performances were generally bland. The one that stands out is by Michele Greene who played
the slain college student's sister. The film was at times more about her character than the
inmate Charles Henderson or the teachers (Matthew Modine) struggle to get him released.

This film works because of the sincerity in the performances, not the story or plot.
The film is very predictable, and you know the ending from the first scenes.
Although it's predictable, the films ending has some very good, positive messages and some touching scenes.

The film uses flashbacks to the crime as it was happening several times in the film, so if you
don't like films that go to the past and back to the present, be warned. This film doesn't make
heavy use of them though, so it's not distracting.

The theme of black oppression is in the film but not in the melodramatic or oscar intended way
that a lot of other films are. There are no money shots or long sermon like sequences.
The film does not have an accompanying soundtrack which is also refreshing.

The presence of the black panthers is story driven, and character based.

It's nice to watch a prison film with none of the cliche scenes of gang wars, turf battles,
rapes, home made shanks and idiosyncratic lifers.

Criticism
There were a couple of loose ends in the film that showed very weak writing. In my opinion, the
inmate Charles Henderson was a stronger writer than the screenwriter who authored this script.
The screenwriter could have taken some of the classes Matthew Modine was teaching.
The writing was very weak because the slain sister's daugher's relationship to her murdered uncle
was never explored; the confrontation with the black panther who set up the
arrests was left unexplored; and the motives for Matthew Modine's character were never
really explained. Other areas of the script that didn't go anywhere - the warden,
the bitter detective on his porch, and the lawyer who defended Charles Henderson.

All in all, a very weak script, saved by sincere performances.

Alternative Recommended Films: For superior films about innocent men put in prison, check out "An Innocent Man" with
Tom Selleck, and "The Shawshank Redemption" with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman and "The Hurricane" with
Danzel Washington.

Average customer rating:

Sincere performances rescue a very weak script

Redeemer
Starring: Matthew Modine , Obba Babatundé , Michele Greene , John Topor , and Gouchy Boy
Director: Graeme Clifford
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Customer Reviews:

Sincere performances rescue a very weak script.......2005-10-29

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