Taglines: Everything you trust. Everything you know. May be a lie…
High Crimes movie storyline. High powered lawyer Claire Kubik finds her world turned upside down when her husband, who she thought was Tom Kubik, is arrested and is revealed to be Ron Chapman. Chapman is on trial for a murder of Latin American villagers while he was in the Marines. Claire soon learns that to navigate the military justice system, she’ll need help from the somewhat unconventional Charlie Grimes; meanwhile, Claire’s sister, Jackie, is falling in love with wet-behind-the-ears Lieutenant Embry assigned as the official defense lawyer. And most of the eyewitnesses have rather too conveniently died.
High Crimes is a 2002 American legal thriller film directed by Carl Franklin and starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, reunited from the 1997 film Kiss the Girls. The screenplay by Yuri Zeltser and Grace Cary Bickley is based on Joseph Finder’s 1998 novel of the same name. Morgan Freeman was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture but lost to Denzel Washington in John Q, the actor’s fourth consecutive win in this category.
About the Story
Attorney Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) and her woodworker husband Tom (James Caviezel) find their idyllic life in Marin County, California shattered when, during a Christmas shopping excursion in San Francisco’s Union Square, he is captured by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with the murders of nine peasants in a remote village in El Salvador in 1988. Claire learns Tom’s real name is Ronald Chapman, and she is shocked to discover he was a covert military operative serving in the Marines and has been on the run for the past twelve years.
Tom admits he was present at the scene of the mass murders but staunchly denies any involvement in the killings. He insists he has been scapegoated in order to protect the real culprit, Major James Hernandez (Juan Carlos Hernández), who has become the aide of Brigadier General Bill Marks (Bruce Davison).
First Lieutenant Terence Embry (Adam Scott) is assigned to defend Tom, but his youth and lack of experience prompt Claire to decide to assist professionally in defending her husband. When she realizes she needs help from someone familiar with the workings of a military court, she hires Charlie Grimes (Morgan Freeman), an embittered former military attorney who has a grudge against the military brass, to assist her.
Three of the five key witnesses, who previously testified Tom was guilty, have died under seemingly mysterious circumstances, raising Claire and Charlie’s suspicions. As the trial proceeds, they uncover a massive cover-up perpetrated by one of the military’s highest-ranking officials. Also creating problems are the sudden appearance of a resident (Emilio Rivera) of the village where the mass murder took place, who insists Tom was responsible; Embry’s romantic involvement with Claire’s irresponsible sister Jackie (Amanda Peet), which leads Claire to assume that he leaked details about secrets she has uncovered to the prosecution; and Charlie’s falling off the wagon after more than a year of sobriety.
The Salvadorian witness identifies an injured Hernandez as the culprit responsible for a bombing incident prior to the massacre. Claire recovers classified medical files from the FBI as evidence of the cover-up. Claire blackmails Marks by threatening to reveal what she knows about the cover-up and asks him to make the case go away; the next day, the U.S. Defense Department has the case thrown out of court due to “security reasons”.
High Crimes (2002)
Directed by: Carl Franklin
Starring: Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, James Caviezel, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Bruce Davison, Juan Carlos Hernández, Michael Gaston, Dendrie Taylor, Paula Jai Parker
Screenplay by: Yuri Zeltser
Production Design by: Paul Peters
Cinematography by: Paul Peters
Film Editing by: Carole Kravetz Aykanian
Costume Design by: Sharen Davis
Set Decoration by: Kathryn Peters
Art Direction by: Gary Kosko
Makeup Department: Luisa Abel, Deena Adair, Felicity Bowring
Müzik: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: April 5, 2002
Views: 91
