A Time To Kill

One of the best elements of A Time to Kill is the cast members. With a top-notch cast with acting ability and credentials to match, A Time to Kill was a sure winner from the beginning. You may opine in your research paper that Samuel L. Jackson's performance is outstanding and powerful as an outraged and grief stricken father and really encourages viewers to sympathize to the actions that he took. Kevin Spacey's act as the slimy prosecutor is very convincing. Matthew McConaughey's performance is OK as well, but sometime lacking in emotion, but he makes up for that during his incredibly touching summation in the courtroom. And Keifer Sutherland's performance as the callous Ku Klux Klan member was exceptional. The acting from the supporting cast was also of a remarkable high-quality. One feature that was utilized very well was camera angles. Almost every time in which the focus was on the District Attorney, Rufus Buckley, low angle camera shots were used to denote a man of authority and power. Whereas, when the camera was on Carl Lee, medium angle or even high angles camera shots were used to imply his helpless situation.

One noteworthy scene in A Time to Kill is in the jail cell when Carl Lee is instructing Jake on what to say at the summation. The lighting is very dark, the only light coming from a single light bulb, which is hanging just outside the cell room which indicates that there is hope on the other side of the cell bars. It is also worth mentioning that the cell bars are painted white which shows that he is locked up by white powers. Carl Lee is lying down on his bed, with Jake sitting upright looking down on his client. Carl Lee only sits up when he is informing Jake that they are not friends, they are on opposites sides of the war, and those words have great affect on the young lawyer, as he delivers a very powerful summation the next day, which ultimately frees Carl Lee. Joel Schumacher as director reveals a lot about racial tension to the viewer throughout A Time to Kill. He reveals the overpowering views on white supremacy. That a black man was going to trial with three white lawyers defending him, a white judge proceeding over his trial, and an all white jury deciding on his future. That all parts of the law, even the police force was riddled with white supremacist activists such as the Ku Klux Klan and that separating the blacks and whites ultimately caused the tension between them and the white supremacist views. To get a complete custom essay on A Time To Kill, feel free to sign in with an order.