This is one of those movies that my husband wanted to see but I had no interest in it.
However, I have been working on broadening my horizons and doing things that I might not normally do, so I changed my mind and went with him.
This is the story of trial by media, which is ironic, because as far as I can tell, no one in the media is talking about this movie.
And they should be.
Three days after he is declared the hero for finding the bomb at the Atlanta Olympics and saving lives, he becomes the accused. Richard Jewell was a unique human being with a unique human being’s quirkiness, much of which gets turned into circumstantial evidence that was used by the FBI and the media to try to make the suspect fit the crime. The FBI had Richard Jewell, and like Greg Brady on that Johnny Bravo episode of The Brady Bunch, they desperately tried to make him ‘fit the suit’.
It’s sad that this is director Clint Eastwood’s second lowest opening weekend for one of his movies.
Let’s get this movie seen. Talked about. Because what happened to Jewell could happen to any one of us. The media and the FBI telling lies about an innocent man that they tried desperately to make everyone believe was guilty.
The highlight of the movie for me was the story of how Richard Jewell and Watson Bryant, the man who would become his lawyer, first met. Because Richard took the chance of bestowing random acts of kindness on a coworker, this coworker, Watson, came to know Richard’s integrity and character. All those years later, when Richard was in the middle of the fight of his life, Watson was willing to step in and fight for him and with him.
Karen Creamer
