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Courtesy of An Unreal Dream
An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story
In light of the national dialog sparked by the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer I am sharing my review written years ago of An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story. As you will read, I am urging everyone to see this particular documentary. Prosucatorial malfeisance is alive and well, and it will take much more of a public outcry and changes in public policy to prevent it. Here's my original piece:
I’m not a critic. I don’t criticize films, I review them. And I only review a film if, for any one reason, I recommend it. With rare exception, I review only documentary films. I review them because I hold the conviction that our world will be a better place if and when very large numbers of people see and respond to these films.
A few of the documentary films I see are entertaining… or, intriguing…, or, for some reason or other… fun.
But most of the films I see are about maladies of our world, and when I get a screener DVD in the mail, open it up, see that this is another film about an unhappy condition on Earth, my first reaction is: 'I don’t want to watch this movie.'
So, I know. This is how most of us respond. And I have no magic to make people see a movie. And, I’m sympathetic, even, as to our avoidance of films about unhappy, perhaps hopeless conditions. I have to push myself to see a film that I know is going to confront me, disturb me, or challenge a dearly-held belief or value.
Still I wish. I wish I could write a review, have a gazillion people read it, and a gazillion people go see the movie and do something about the film’s issue. To be blunt, I don’t want to even have to write the review. I wish I could just say, ‘See this film,’ and my will would be done.
This is how I passionately feel about Al Reinert’s masterpiece, An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, which tells the story of Michael Morton’s false conviction of the murder of his wife and his subsequent 25 years of imprisonment which ended when lawyers with The Innocence Project took on his case, and, after many years, obtained his release.
When the film ended I sat stunned, speechless, felt there’s no way I can do justice in describing the impact of this story.
So, I say, ‘See This Film.’
But I hope to inspire you by exclaiming that there are three reasons I want you to do so:
1) It is about a vital issue—prosecutorial malfeasance, in this instance.
2) It is masterfully produced.
3) It is about a beautiful soul, Michael Morton.