This movie puts its audience in the same untenable position as the jury, forcing the viewer to decide for himself what really happened. There is no irrefutable truth or incontrovertible evidence, there is only opinion. We are left with our personal interpretation of the facts of the case (such as they are), the behavior and motives of the people involved, and the sleight of hand of the attorneys, but we are never shown proof that we have interpreted any of it correctly.
The elements of the story beg for interpretation--rape or adultery, crime of passion or premeditated murder, protective husband or vicious wife-beater, aloof inmate or cocky creep, scheming arsonist or truthful stoolie, lost panties or planted evidence, good guy lawyer or calculating cynic....By trial's end we don't have the whole story, we have unanswered questions. We have a case of colossal ambiguity.
Do we also have reasonable doubt? How would we, how could we render a verdict? That question is the essence and purpose of this film.
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