Primal fear

Year of release : 1996

Run time : 2h10m

Genre : Legal Drama / Thriller / Crime

Cast : Richard Gere, Edward Norton, Laura Linney

The movie is based on the 1993 novel of the same name by William Diehl.

Martin Vail is a pretty full of himself defense attorney. He is being interviewed by a magazine for a cover story, interview in which he states that he is now representing high profile clients that nobody wants because he found the state prosecuting attorney job he previously had, a dead-end career, and he likes the spotlight.

He is representing the alleged mob boss Joey Pinero and manages to strike a deal with the state, if he leaves the state; Joey takes the offer, but doesn't leave the state.

A beloved archbishop is found dead and mutilated with a 19 year old altar boy Aaron fleeing the scene covered in blood. He is caught, and Martin takes the case pro-bono, as he honestly believes Aaron didn't do it. He asks the judge to give him time for Aaron to be psychiatrically evaluated, but she refuses. He brings a psychiatrist anyway, who films their sessions.

Aaron stutters, is scared, and tells Martin he doesn't know what happened as he blacked out. He says he loved the archbishop who offered him shelter, as he was homeless.

The state assigns attorney Janet Venable, Martin's former girlfriend of 6 months, whom he tries to win back into his graces, but she says what they had was a one night stand which lasted longer, as he is unable to commit.

A series of numbers carved into the archbishop's chest lead to a phrase from the book "The scarlet letter" which refers to the man being two faced.

Martin and his colleague find another boy, whom they believed to be the real k1ller, as Aaron keeps on saying he's innocent and someone else was in the room. The boy tells them he was looking for a s3x tape the archbishop made him,Aaron and a girl, perform in, which he wanted to destroy.

Martin finds the tape, watches it, and sends it to Janet, as he can't use it in the trial.

Janet is warned by her superiors that if she shows the tape in court they'll fire her. She still shows it.

Martin talks to Aaron about it, and Aaron switches from the innocent ,stuttering kid, to a very aggressive one, throwing Martin around, saying his name is Roy, and he k1lled the archbishop.

Realizing that his colleagues were right, as he was the only one believing him innocent, he tries to find a way for Aaron not to get the death penalty that the state pursues.

I personally enjoyed the movie, this used to be one of my favorite movies , I even have it on original tape, although the tape never worked (it never occurred to me to take it back, to get my money back) . At the time, my favorite character was Janet Venable. I liked her strength, the fact that she did what was right, not what her superiors told her, to keep her job, and the fact her No meant No, as once she made up her mind about Martin, that was it, her trust lost was never regained.

I think the characters have growth, as in, Martin realizes at the end what his peers keep on saying to him, that he represents k1llers, while he thinks them innocent, as he says "innocent until proven guilty", as, at the end of the movie, he hides from the spotlight, from the reporters gathered to interview him, as he pretty much won the case . Until then, he believes the people he represents, he trusts the word of the ones considered as being in the mob.

The actors were at the top of their game. I liked Richard Gere's interpretation of Martin, I liked the way he is with Aaron, trying to protect him, like a father figure or an older brother. The best,obviously, was Edward Norton, who had to get in the shoes of someone with multiple personalities disorder.

The soundtrack was so and so, I liked the song Richard Gere's character likes, "Cancao do mar" by Dulce Pontes, song which's melody line is used in Helene Segara's 2000 French song "Elle, tu l'aime".

The movie received positive reviews, Edward Norton winning the Golden Globe for his performance, being also nominated for the Oscar and the BAFTA awards.

The movie received many award nominations, most of them for Edward Norton's interpretation.

Cinema Score audiences rated the movie a B+ on an A+ to F scale.

The Paramount production company wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Aaron, but he considered the script problematic. The actors who auditioned to play Aaron include Matt Damon, James Van Der Beek (who was famous in the late '90's early 2000's with the tv series Dawson's Creek) and Pedro Pascal!

The movie grossed 102.6 million dollars against a budget of 30 million,being a box office hit.

Rating : Worth a watch !