Freedomland (2006)

Director:

Joe Roth

Writers (WGA):

Richard Price (screenplay)
Richard Price (novel)

Release Date:

17 February 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

His Streets. His Rules.

Plot:

A black police detective must solve a strange case of a kidnapped boy and deal with a big racial protest.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Mother | Kidnapping | Missing Child | Riot

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Lorenzo Council
Julianne Moore	...	Brenda Martin
Edie Falco	...	Karen Collucci
Ron Eldard	...	Danny Martin
William Forsythe	...	Boyle
Aunjanue Ellis	...	Felicia
Anthony Mackie	...	Billy Williams
LaTanya Richardson	...	Marie (as LaTanya Richardson Jackson)
Clarke Peters	...	Reverend Longway
Peter Friedman	...	Lt. Gold
Domenick Lombardozzi	...	Leo Sullivan
Aasif Mandvi	...	Dr. Anil Chatterjee
Philip Bosco	...	Priest
Fly Williams III	...	Rafik
Portia	...	Doreen / Rafik's Sister

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violent content.

Runtime:

113 min | Philippines:112 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:11 | Finland:K-15 | USA:R (certificate #41466) | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R13

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

Michael Winterbottom was the original director and did extensive work before leaving this project.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The scenes at the Freedomland facility appear to be in late fall/winter - trees are bare, subjects are wearing heavy clothing. When Lorenzo interviews Brenda, he states on the tape recorder the date of the interview is May.

Quotes:

Karen Collucci: [talking to Brenda] Just nod your head.

Movie Connections:

Features "Wheel of Fortune" (1975/I)

Most stereotyped film ever… wait, it looks quite real to me.

First mistake of this film was marketing (after all, it's all about marketing) Billing it as a thriller/action movie with some paranormal slant was wrong. This is strictly a psychological drama with zero paranormal stuff in it.

Second mistake was to make reality too real and not idealized or artistic to stay away of the touchy issues addressed: Race, police prejudice, social differences.

So if you went to the movie theater or the rental place to watch a thrilling action film staying right on the surface of entertainment and shock value, you will be disappointed. This is a nicely acted, well constructed and most importantly, realistic drama in which a white woman blames the kidnap of her son as a carjack conducted by an African-American male.

As far as I am concern, there was no stereotyping, just realism. There was no siding on the moralistic virtues of one or other side. Actually, this is a quite profound exploration of the reasons to lie, the be racist, to fear prejudice and to resist the fact that a social interaction between poor and rich, white and black, civilian and policemen will probably be fair in a near future… not now.

My only concern was to see Ms. Moore so stressed during 90% of the film, quite impressive performance. Just hope she doesn't take this as her type-cast.