This is a OK movie. We get to see a early Hilary Swank and Carolyn McCormick from Law and Order playing Donna's sister, the Jacklyn Smith character. THis movie is about a battered wife of a police man and it told from her standpoint while her teenage son is visiting her in jail. I am very torn about this movie. Another person pointed out the thing that bothers me the most. Why didn't any one speak out about the abuse they saw? First off we know he is a crazy cop and the cops know he is crazy too. There was a incident in the movie where he uses a gun on a 9 year old. It was on the radio about what he did. So why would it be so far fetched to hear that he was abusing his wife? We seen no corroboration from the Hilary Swank character who is actually living in the house and see all of this abuse. She became pregnant and was so afraid of the Brad Johnson character she had to get Donna to tell him. He went off the deep end. She has a sister who knows what is going on and when she comes to pick her up , Donna stays with him because of his threats! So this women did have a place to go, something most battered women do not and she had support from her sister. Then to top things off she goes to a women shelter with their little boy, he hunts her down and then threatens the woman who is running the place. Where are these people when she got arrested and during the trial? Did I mention he believes her husband may have killed his first wife? Then we have the husbands sidekick, friend, heck I don't know what he is. But he hangs out with him. He see that hubby is taking steroids and is a nut case even with the little boy. He is obviously sympathetic to Donna and he agrees to kill her husband when asked. They said if she pulled the trigger she would of gotten less time. But being this man was a cop I think most people would gotten a hit person if they were inclined to kill a cop who has been beating them. It wasn't like she went to the Mafia or called 1800-EXECUTE and hired one. This guy was a friend of the family who saw everything. In any case where are all these people who witnessed all of the abuse? Oh and it looked like the woman who ran the battered women shelter even called the cops when the husband burst into the house, because there were other women there too. There is no record of that? All we hear about is two doctors at the trial, one who talks about the battered women syndrome and one who refutes it by saying men get battered too. That according to her was enough to sway the jury!
Most of the time women are so scared and afraid and embarrassed it is a big secret about what is happening to them. But according to this movie this was not the case. So here is where I am having problems. This movie is filled with more holes then a spaghetti colander. I think a good case can be made about being a battered wife without making the husband so over the top. So my question begs was this man really the nut we see in the movie? Was he a raging maniac that we see in the movie or was he just like most batterers, seemingly normal men who look like they wouldn't hurt flea? I ask that because of the lack of corroboration offered when Donna is arrested and put on trial.
Jacklyn Smith was OK. But Brad Johnson scared me. He was very good. Hilary Swank didn't have much to do. The movie was OK, but I feel it is not being completely honest with us. I felt they went overboard to stress how bad of a guy he was but it doesn't add up. He would just as much of a villain by just beating his wife as far as I am concerned.
Most of the time women are so scared and afraid and embarrassed it is a big secret about what is happening to them. But according to this movie this was not the case. So here is where I am having problems. This movie is filled with more holes then a spaghetti colander. I think a good case can be made about being a battered wife without making the husband so over the top. So my question begs was this man really the nut we see in the movie? Was he a raging maniac that we see in the movie or was he just like most batterers, seemingly normal men who look like they wouldn't hurt flea? I ask that because of the lack of corroboration offered when Donna is arrested and put on trial.
Jacklyn Smith was OK. But Brad Johnson scared me. He was very good. Hilary Swank didn't have much to do. The movie was OK, but I feel it is not being completely honest with us. I felt they went overboard to stress how bad of a guy he was but it doesn't add up. He would just as much of a villain by just beating his wife as far as I am concerned.