Usually I find myself agreeing with the general sway of view reviews here on IMDb but not in this case. This is all the more unusual as I am a fan of Law and Order type movies and (like most of the free world) left of center on the America penal system. Story line points aside Swank and Rockwell are very good and play off each other wonderfully in this film. So why am I not raving about this movie? Well for a start it makes an obvious effort to 'tell the facts' even if that kills momentum, it places the history it wants to record ahead of the drama. There are a few times during the movie when I found myself asking 'why did they bother telling me that?' when it was obvious the film makers wanted me to know something that had little to do with the story being told at that particular moment on screen. Later when reading around the story online the reasons became clearer. I do not know how much of the real story was lost in translation to screen play and I do not know how much was altered to suit individual family members. I do know that if you ignore the 'based on a true story' and simply view this as entertainment giving it 6 out of 10 is more than generous.

"Conviction" stars Hillary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo, Peter Gallagher, and Juliette Lewis in the true-life story of Betty Anne Waters, who becomes an attorney in order to free her brother Kenny of a wrongful murder conviction.I saw Betty Anne profiled some time ago -- back then, I think she was still in law school.Kenny Waters is convicted of the murder of Katharina Brow (since she was German, I assume the original last name was Brau) who was viciously knifed in her home. The crime occurred in 1980, when there was no DNA testing, and Kenny had the same blood type as the perpetrator. Several witnesses, including Kenny's wife and ex-girlfriend, testify against him.Betty Anne, a mother with two children, makes the decision to go to law school in order to free her brother. At that time, she doesn't even have her GED. She comes up against wall after wall, gets divorced, and her children, probably more to help her than anything else, finally go to live with their father. She moonlights running a bar.Betty Anne contacts Barry Scheck (Gallagher) of the Innocence Project to enlist his group's help. Scheck needs evidence -- by then, it's been about 15 years since Kenny's conviction.This is a powerful story because it shows, again, what the determination of one person can achieve, and how his or her passion can inspire others to help.Hillary Swank is a gifted actress, and it's a shame that she hasn't gotten more roles like she had in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby. She's natural but intense as Betty Anne, and she can really pull at the heartstrings. Sam Rockwell as Kenny does a wonderful job, and the two have great chemistry together. You could feel his hopelessness, and his fear of being let down.Everyone is good in this film, with Juliette Lewis as an ex-girlfriend and Melissa Leo as policewoman Nancy Taylor standouts.The problem I have with this film is that, strip the movie of Hillary Swank and you've got a Lifetime movie. It just doesn't come off like a feature film in the way the story is told or in its focus. It's just a little bit left of cloying. Also, note to writers -- Kenny wasn't in jail, he was in prison. There's a difference.Despite this, it's a wonderful story, all the more dramatic because it's true. And you can't get enough of its message: One person can make a difference.

The story this movie is based on is quite amazing, even more when you think it actually happened in real life... but the movie itself is quite poor. The script never rises beyond the melodramatic, cheesy, predictable stuff. The characters are flat, one-dimensional, without any development. The music never leaves a certain melancholic tone which drags the film the whole way through. In general, I felt disconnected and unmoved even in moments when I realized that the story was at a crucial point...It's too bad that such a good story got wasted with such a bland and unremarkable film. The 2 stars go only to the actors, who tried to put forward a decent job... unfortunately, it's not enough.Unless you are bored to death and have absolutely nothing better to do, do not waste your time with this movie.

This film was essentially a film about someone brother being falsely accused, and a woman's struggle to try to prove her brothers innocence. The film was excellently portrayed not lingering to much on the emotional side and instead focused more on the story, which was interesting as the subject can be seen as more emotional. However the nature of the convict played by Sam Rockwell, showed a happy and sort of borderline outrageous man who really was a bit of a joker, and so any scenes with him in were sure to brighten the mood. Rockwell did also excellently portray sadness, so he was not always a joker type person which helped to keep the tone of the film.The sister character played by Hillary Swank was played exceedingly well, even in the situation, which is a woman spending a large proportion of their life to prove someone else's innocence, its really quite amazing, however Swank really did carry the film through, and was emotional enough without becoming eccentric.Other characters were kind of underplayed but were crucial, such as the role of the two sons, who showed the viewer how much of Swank's characters life, had been spent on this case but without becoming melodramatic, that other films often show. Instead this film was more realistic in its viewing of the story.The character of the best friend played by Minnie Driver was also crucial, my only criticism being that this character kind of became irrelevant about half way through the film, and this character just followed Swank around for the rest of the film, and when the eventual conclusion came they were nowhere to be seen and at the very end you just wonder what happens now.Apart form my one criticism I really enjoyed this film, It gave a realistic view of a difficult situation, especially as the case was a real life case. The main was this was done is in the films incredible acting.