Trial by Fire review – old-fashioned death row drama pulses with anger
Jack O’Connell and Laura Dern impress in a sturdy, no-frills retelling of an enraging true story about a man who might have been wrongfully convicted of killing his children
Quietly premiering at last year’s Telluride film festival alongside bigger, splashier titles, the worthy fact-based drama Trial by Fire quickly became one of the season’s most inevitable casualties, a crushing lack of buzz immediately putting an end to any potential awards run. A decade or so ago, this might not have been the case. Based on the true story of a man claiming wrongful imprisonment, directed by Oscar-winning film-maker and producer Edward Zwick, scripted by Geoffrey Fletcher, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Precious and starring two-time Oscar nominee Laura Dern, it’s the sort of sturdy prestige-y project that would have been a contender in a different, simpler time.
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