Shows
Law on FilmI'm Still Here (Brazil) (2024) (Guest: Isabela Amaral) (episode 52)I’m Still Here (dir. Walter Salles, 2024) is based on the true story of the enforced disappearance and murder of former congressman Rubens Paiva by the military dictatorship in Brazil. The film opens in Rio de Janeiro in 1970, where Rubens lives with his wife, Eunice, and their five children. Their lives are forever altered when the military government arrests and disappears Rubens. The film describes Eunice’s attempt to find out what happened to Rubens and to rebuild her life and raise her family in his absence. The film is based on the memoir of their son, Marcelo Rubens Paiv...
2025-12-1655 minLaw on FilmAn Officer and a Spy (2019) (Guest: William Schabas) (episode 51)This episode explores An Officer and a Spy (J’accuse in French), Roman Polanski’s 2019 film about the Dreyfus Affair in France. The Dreyfus Affair is one of most significant events in late 19th/early 20th century, an event whose implications reverberated for decades in France and around the world. The Dreyfus Affair centered around the military trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus on charges of treason. Wrongly convicted based on secret evidence and false information, Dreyfus’s case would become a cause célèbres and synonymous with a miscarriage of justice. It also exposed and exacerbated tensions within French s...
2025-11-2549 min
Race and Rights PodcastPunishing Atrocities and Fair Trials: From Nuremberg to Global Terrorism (Episode 46)In this episode, we welcome Professor Jonathan Hafetz for an insightful discussion on the complex legal challenges involved in prosecuting individuals accused of mass crimes. Our conversation traces the development of international justice mechanisms from the foundational Nuremberg trials through to contemporary approaches in the age of global terrorism.Professor Hafetz examines how nations have attempted to hold perpetrators accountable while maintaining commitment to fair trial principles - a tension that continues to define international criminal law. The discussion explores the significant impact of the U.S. War on Terrorism on legal frameworks and its disproportionate effects...
2025-11-1833 minLaw on FilmJuror #2 (2024) (Guest: Frank Wohl) (episode 50)This episode examines Juror #2, Clint Eastwood’s most recent—and perhaps final—film. Juror #2 centers around the trial of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend after a fight at a bar, leaving her in a ditch by the side of a road. The twist comes early: Justin Kemp a/k/a Juror #2 (played by Nicholas Hoult) soon realizes that the wrong man is on trial—as he hears the evidence, Kemp figures out that he, and not the defendant, killed the victim. Kemp realizes that he accidentally hit the defendant’s girlfriend with his car while she was walking al...
2025-11-0447 minLaw on FilmVindication Swim (2024) (Guest: Elliot Hasler) (episode 49)Vindication Swim (2024) tells the story of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. This major accomplishment, however, was soon called into question when another swimmer made a dubious claim to the same feat. To defend her integrity and her legacy, Gleitze (Kirsten Callaghan) attempted what she called her “vindication swim” — a second crossing of the English Channel intended to silence her critics and restore her reputation. Vindication Swim is about more than an athletic feat. It also raises timeless questions of proof, reputation, and justice, while providing a window into the barriers imposed by gender...
2025-10-1331 minRace and Rights PodcastMuhammad Ali with Jonathan Hafetz ( Episode 42)Muhammad Ali is widely recognized as one of the greatest athletes of all-time and one of the most important figures of the 20th century. In addition to his long and celebrated career as a boxer and three-time heavyweight champion of the world, Ali changed the conversation about race, religion, and politics in America. Ali’s refusal to be inducted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War on religious grounds—a profound act of resistance that resulted not only in Ali’s three-plus-year exile from professional boxing, but also a criminal conviction and five year-prison sentence that Ali almost...
2025-09-2252 minLaw on FilmThe Godfather (1972) (Guest: Steve Koh) (episode 48)Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel, The Godfather depicts the rise and legacy of the Corleone family, a fictional Italian-American organized crime family led by Vito Corleone and the transformation of his son Michael from a reluctant outsider to a ruthless mafia boss. The film, which features an ensemble cast of American film icons, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duval, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and John Cazale, explores themes of family, power, and the American Drea...
2025-09-161h 08Law on FilmNo Other Land (2024) (Palestinian-Israeli) (Guests: Omer Bartov & Lisa Hajjar) (episode 47)No Other Land (2024) is the Oscar-winning documentary that shows the brutal destruction of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank. Recorded between 2019 to 2023, the film tells the story of Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist, who has been protesting the Israeli army’s destruction of homes and eviction of villagers. Adra is assisted by Yuval Abraham, a Jewish Israeli journalist. (They are also two of the film’s four directors). To Adra and other Palestinians, the Israeli army is destroying their homeland. The Israeli army, however, maintains that the inhabitants are on land that the military needs for live...
2025-08-1251 minLaw on FilmThe Return of Martin Guerre (1982) (France) (Guest: Joseph Dellapenna) (episode 46)The Return of Martin Guerre is a 1982 French historical drama directed by Daniel Vigne and staring Gerard Depardieu. The film describes the historical case of Martin Guerre who leaves his young wife Bertrande (Nathalie Baye) in the small French village of Artigat to fight in a war and travel. Around eight years later, the false Martin (played by Depardieu) returns to the village to resume his life. The false Martin (whose real name is Arnaud du Tilh) persuades the people in the village that he is in fact Martin Guerre. This includes Bertrande, who goes on to have two...
2025-07-2237 minLaw on FilmThe Conformist (1970) (Guest: Aziz Huq) (episode 45)This episode examines The Conformist, Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 political drama set in 1930s Italy. The film centers on Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a mid-level Fascist functionary who is ordered to assassinate his former professor, an anti-fascist dissident living in Paris. The film, which includes many flashbacks to Clerici’s early life and decision to join the secret police, provides powerful and chilling insights into the psychology of conformism and fascism The film, widely considered one of the greatest ever made, not only features outstanding performances but also superb production design (Fernando Scarfiotti) and cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) that helps capture Ital...
2025-07-011h 00Law on FilmDark Waters (2019) (Guest: Mark Templeton) (episode 44)Dark Waters (2019), directed by Todd Haynes, tells the real-life story of how a lawyer, Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), waged a twenty-year battle to hold the DuPont corporation accountable for contaminating a local water supply with carcinogenic chemicals that poisoned tens of thousands of people. While Bilott is ultimately able to achieve some degree of compensation and justice for the victims, the film shows the challenges of litigating against a powerful company bent on denying responsibility and covering up its misconduct. Timestamps:0:00 Introduction2:35 The origins: a small case for a family friend back home6:24...
2025-06-101h 19Law on FilmI Just Didn't Do It (2007) (Guest: Naoko Akimoto) (episode 43)This episode examines I Just Didn’t Do It, a 2007 Japanese film written and directed by Masayuki Suo. In the film, 26-year-old Teppei Kaneko (played by Ryo Kase) is traveling to a job interview on a packed Tokyo commuter train when a 15-year-old school girl, who was standing in front of him on the train and whom Kaneko hardly noticed, wrongly accuses him of groping (chikan). Kaneko is arrested. He is advised by a lawyer to plead guilty and pay a small fine, after which he will be freed. But Kaneko maintains his innocence and decides to fight the cas...
2025-05-2056 minLaw on FilmOn the Waterfront (1954) (Guest: Warren Scharf) (episode 42)This episode looks at On the Waterfront, the celebrated 1954 American film directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. The film stars Marlon Brando as the ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman Terry Malloy. Malloy struggles to stand up to mob-affiliated union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) after Malloy is lured into setting up a fellow dockworker whom Friendly has murdered to prevent him from testifying before the Waterfront Crime Commission about violence and corruption at the docks. The pressure on Malloy rises as he falls in love with Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint), the murdered dockworker’s...
2025-04-2957 minLaw on FilmAli (2001) (Guest: Dave Zirin) (episode 41)Muhammad Ali is widely recognized as one of the greatest athletes of all-time and one of the most important figures of the 20th century. In addition to his long and celebrated career as a boxer and three-time heavyweight champion of the world, Ali changed the conversation about race, religion, and politics in America. Ali’s refusal to be inducted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War on religious grounds—a profound act of resistance that resulted not only in Ali’s three-plus-year exile from professional boxing, but also a criminal conviction and five year-prison sentence that Ali almost...
2025-04-0850 minLaw on FilmSyriana (2005) (Guest: Peggy McGuinness) (episode 40)Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, based loosely on former CIA case officer Robert Baer’s memoir, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism. The film weaves together multiple storylines that involve a CIA agent, a U.S. energy analyst, a major transnational law firm, and an oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom. It tackles complex themes of corruption, power, and terrorism from a distinctly post-9/11 vantage point. The film also suggests how law operates in transnational settings and how it seeks—but often fails—to tame the fo...
2025-03-181h 08Law on FilmThe Goldman Case (2023) (Guest: Fred Davis) (episode 39)The Goldman Case (Le Procès Goldman) (2023), is a French courtroom drama based on the real-life 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman, a far-left Jewish militant who was accused of multiple armed robberies and four murders during a holdup of a pharmacy in Paris. The film, which was directed by Cedric Kahn from screenplay by Kahn and Nathalie Hertzberg, stars Arieh Worthalter as Goldman and Arthur Harari as his lead lawyer, Georges Kiejiman. The film is not only a gripping account of this celebrated trial, but also explores larger themes around individual and collective responsibility, the way courtrooms can become the b...
2025-02-2544 minLaw on FilmMr. Untouchable (2007) (Guest: Robert B. Fiske) (episode 38)Mr. Untouchable, a 2007 documentary directed by Marc Levin, describes the rise and fall of former New York City drug kingpin, Leroy (“Nicky”) Barnes. In the early 1970s, Barnes formed “The Council,” an organized crime syndicate that controlled a significant part of the heroin trade in Harlem. Inspired by the Italian-American mafia, Barnes became one of the most powerful and notorious figures in New York City. A flashy and flamboyant fixture on the free-wheeling social scene of the period, Barnes quickly drew the attention of law enforcement. After several unsuccessful state prosecution attempts, Barnes, along with multiple other associates, was indicted...
2025-02-0442 minLaw on FilmFirst They Killed My Father (2017) and The Gate (2014) (Guest: Melanie O'Brien) (episode 37)This episode looks at two films about the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s: First They Killed My Father (dir. Angelina Jolie), and The Gate (or Les Temps des Aveux) (dir. Régis Wargnier). First They Killed My Father is based on the memoir of Loung Ung, who was a five-year-old girl when the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia in 1975. Loung Ung was forced to flee Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, with her family. Loung Ung’s parents were killed, and Loung Ung was separated from her siblings; after surviving in a forced labor camp, Loung Ung was forced to bec...
2025-01-141h 18Law on FilmMatewan (1989) (Guest: Fred B. Jacob) (episode 36)Matewan (written and directed by John Sayles) dramatizes the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners’ strike in 1920 in a small town in the hills of West Virginia. In the film, Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his film debut), an ex-Wobbly organizer for the United Mine Workers (also known as the “Wobblies”), arrives in Matewan, to organize miners against the Stone Mountain Coal Company. Kenehan and his supporters must battle the company’s use of scabs and outright violence, resist the complicity of law enforcement in the company’s tactics, and overcome the racism and xenophobia that helps divi...
2024-12-231h 05Law on FilmMinamata: The Victims and Their World (1971) & Minamata (2020) (Guest: Darryl Flaherty) (episode 35)This episode looks at two films that examine the environmental disaster in Minamata, Japan: Noriaki Tsuchimoto’s documentary, Minamata: The Victims and the World (1971), and Andre Levitas’s Minamata (2020), a Hollywood feature film that tells the story through the famous American photographer, W. Eugene Smith. From 1932 to 1968, the Chisso Corporation, a local petrochemical and plastics maker, dumped approximately 27 tons of mercury into Minamata bay, poisoning fish and, ultimately, the people who ate them. Several thousand people died and many more suffered crippling injuries, with often severe mental and physical effects. The corporation’s environmental pollution sparked legal and political battle...
2024-12-051h 07Law on FilmBlack Hawk Down (Guest: Greg Fox) (episode 34)Black Hawk Down (2001) describes the plight of the U.S. crew of a Black Hawk helicopter that is shot down during the Battle of Mogadishu during the civil war in Somalia in October 1993. The battle resulted in the death of 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis; it also prompted the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia after images of dead U.S. soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by enraged Somalis were broadcast on American television. Directed by Ridley Scott from a book by Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down is a gritty action movie that captures the brutal...
2024-11-1258 minLaw on FilmA Separation (Iran) (2011) (Guest: Golbarg Rekabtalaei) (episode 33)A Separation (2011) is an Iranian drama written and directed by Asghar Farhadi. The film depicts the martial separation between a middle-class couple, Nadar (Peyman Moaadi) and his wife Simin (Leila Hatami). Simin wants the family to leave Iran to make a better life for their 10-year-old daughter Termeh, but Nadar does not want to leave his father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. So Nadar refuses to go and also refuses to give permission for their daughter to leave. The film also depicts the conflict that results when Nadar allegedly pushes his father’s new, lower-income caregiver, Razieh (Sare...
2024-10-2251 minLaw on FilmBridge of Spies (Guests: Lenni Benson & Jeffrey Kahn) (episode 32)This episode explores Bridge of Spies (2015), the Cold War legal and political thriller directed by Steven Spielberg (and written by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen). The film is based on the true story of American attorney James Donovan, who is assigned to represent Soviet spy Rudolf Abel after Abel is arrested in New York and prosecuted for espionage. The story takes a turn when American pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured by the Russians after his plane is shot down over the Soviet Union while conducting a surveillance mission. Donovan is then tasked with negotiating a high-stakes...
2024-10-011h 22Law on FilmChinatown (1974) (Guest: John Walton) (episode 31)Chinatown (1974) is a neo-noir crime thriller, directed by Roman Polanski from a screenplay by Robert Towne. Based loosely on the Owens Valley water wars in Los Angeles from the early twentieth century, the film follows private investigator J.J. (“Jake”) Gittes (Jack Nicholson) as he pursues a series of leads that take him into the dark underbelly of power and corruption in 1930s Los Angeles. A woman claiming to be "Evelyn Mulwray” initially hires Gittes to follow her husband Hollis, whom she suspects of infidelity. Gittes discovers that Noah Cross (John Huston), the father of the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye D...
2024-09-1047 minLaw on FilmThe Verdict (1982) (Guest: John "Rusty" Wing) (episode 30)The Verdict (1982) tells the story of down-on-his-luck Boston lawyer, Frank Galvin (Paul Newman). Galvin had been a rising star until he was framed for jury tampering by a partner at his elite Boston law firm because he planned to expose the firm's illegalities. Galvin left the firm and his marriage and career fell apart. After Galvin hits rock bottom, his former partner and friend Mickey Morrisey (Jack Warden) sends him a medical malpractice case as a favor; the case involves a botched delivery and is expected to settle out of court for a significant sum. But Galvin is moved a...
2024-08-061h 11Law on FilmElizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) (Guest: Alka Pradhan) (episode 29)Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) centers on the plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England, the arrest and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (Elizabeth’s cousin), and King Phillip II of Spain’s attempt to topple Elizabeth and install a Catholic monarch on the English throne, which culminates in England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The film also portrays the complex emotional triangle involving Elizabeth, the English statemen, soldier, and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, and Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting, Beth Throckmorton, whom Raleigh marries and has a child with. (The film depicts Elizabeth as enamored with Raleigh). Directed...
2024-07-1751 minLaw on FilmThe Sweet Hereafter (1997) (Guest: Seán Patrick Donlan) (episode 28)This episode explores Atom Egoyan's 1997 film, The Sweet Hereafter, which describes the impact of a tragic school bus accident that caused the death of 14 children on a small Canadian town. The film is based on Russell Banks’ 1991 novel of the same name (which in turn was based on a real-life bus crash in Texas). The film centers on personal injury lawyer Mitchell Stephens (Ian Holm), who travels to the town after the accident in an attempt to persuade the parents of the children to bring a negligence lawsuit. The controversy generated by the lawsuit ripples through the community and is...
2024-06-1853 min
On the NoseSynagogue StrugglesSince October 7th, American Jews have been sharply divided over Israel’s war on Gaza—a fracture that has been manifest within all manner of institutions, including synagogues. Many leftist Jews do not participate in synagogue life at all, in part because most congregations are explicitly or tacitly Zionist. But for those who are affiliated with a synagogue community that doesn’t completely align with their politics, this moment has raised or reasserted pressing and difficult questions: Should we do political work within these institutions, and if so, how? What is gained and lost by organizing in these spaces, or by...
2024-06-1351 minLaw on FilmAbsence of Malice (1981) (Guest: Brian Hauss) (episode 27)This episode examines Absence of Malice, a 1981 drama directed by Sidney Pollack. After Miami-based newspaper reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field) is tipped off by Justice Department organized crime strike force chief Elliot Rosen (Bob Balaban) about a criminal investigation into the disappearance and likely murder of a local union official, her paper runs a sensational front-page story. But the supposed target of the investigation, Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman), the son of an infamous bootlegger, is innocent; Rosen, the strike force chief, has leaked his name to the press to try to squeeze Gallagher for information. Gallagher is incensed and...
2024-05-2856 minLaw on FilmInherit the Wind (1960) (Guest Nell Minow) (episode 26)Inherit the Wind (1960) is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial," where a local teacher is prosecuted for teaching about human evolution in public school in violation of state law. The film was directed by Stanley Kramer and is based on a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. It stars Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond (patterned after celebrated defense attorney Clarence Darrow), Frederic March as the prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady (patterned after famous three-time presidential candidate and renowned fundamentalist Christian spokesperson, William Jennings Bryan); Dick York as Bertram T. Cates (patterned after high school science teacher Jo...
2024-05-1440 minLaw on FilmThe Caine Mutiny (1954) & The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) (Guest: Gene Fidell) (episode 25)The Caine Mutiny (1954) is based on Herman Wouk’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. The film, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer, portrays the fictitious events on board the U.S.S. Caine, a Navy destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific during World War II. Lt. Stephen Maryk (Van Johnson) relieves the seemingly unstable Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, Captain of the USS Caine, of his command after Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) endangers the ship and its crew . The ship returns to the U.S. and Maryk is court-martialed for mutiny. He is represented by Navy law...
2024-05-0154 minLaw on FilmMiracle on 34th Street and Top Law Movies List (Guest: Ashley Merryman) (episode 24)This episode looks at “Law Films You Won't Want to Miss,” a recent list of "the most captivating legal themed movies," published in U.S. News and World Report. Which movies are on the list? Which didn't make the cut? And what does the list tell us about “law movies”—and of great law movies? One film on the list may be something of a surprise: Miracle on 34th Street (1947) written and directed by George Seaton, from a story by Valentine Davies. In this Christmas holiday classic, the events director of Macy’s Department Store in NYC, Doris Walker...
2024-04-1658 minLaw on FilmEight Men Out (1988) (Guests: Robert Boland and Brett Kaufman) (episode 23)Eight Men Out (1988) is a dramatization of professional baseball’s infamous Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The film, which was directed by John Sayles, is based on Eliot Asinof’s 1963 book, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. It recounts how a group of White Sox players conspired with an array of gamblers, including notorious underworld financier Arnold Rothstein (a/k/a “The Big Bankroll”), to throw the series in return for cash. After the Sox, who some...
2024-03-2857 minLaw on FilmAnatomy of a Fall (France) (Guests: Fred Davis and Sam Bettwy) (episode 22)Anatomy of a Fall (2023) is an acclaimed French drama directed by Justine Triet, from a screenplay she co-wrote with her real-life partner, Arthur Harari. The movie centers on the criminal trial of a writer (Sandra Hüeller) who is accused of killing her husband (Samuel Maleski) in a small town in the French Alps. The film operates on multiple levels. On one level, it dissects the circumstances surrounding Samuel’s death. What caused him to fall from the window of their chalet? Was he pushed? Or did he jump? On another level, the film dissects the deteriorating marriage between San...
2024-03-0754 minLaw on FilmKillers of the Flower Moon (Guest: Wilson Pipestem) (episode 21)Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) describes the series of murders of members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. Because tribal members retained mineral rights on their reservation, they became extraordinarily wealthy after oil was discovered on tribal land. This leads a corrupt local boss, William K. Hale (Robert De Niro), to conspire with others in the community to deprive the Osage of their wealth by murdering them. Directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the 2017 book by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon focuses on the plot by Hale and his two nephews, Ernest...
2024-02-291h 01Law on FilmOppenheimer (Guest: Audra Wolfe) (episode 20)Oppenheimer (2023) stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II . The film was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, based on the book, American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. The film traces Oppenheimer’s early life, his rise to world prominence through the Manhattan Project, and his subsequent downfall after being stripped of his security clearance in 1954 due to his alleged past communist sympathies and outspoken criticism of the nuclear arms race. The cast i...
2024-02-211h 07
JIB/JAB PodcastJIB/JAB - Episode 37: Martin and Hafetz on "Eye in the Sky"In a cross-posted episode I discuss with Jonathan Hafetz, host of the Law on Film podcast, and professor of law at Seton Hall Law School, the film "Eye in the Sky" - a 2015 film about a British and U.S. operated drone strike against al Shabaab terrorists in Kenya, which intelligently and engagingly explores the legal, ethical, philosophical, political, and strategic issues raised by the operation. We focus on and examine the film's treatment of the legal principles implicated, but also explore their relationship with some of the ethical and strategic aspects of the decision-making, and go on to place...
2024-02-071h 10Law on FilmEye in the Sky (Guest: Craig Martin) (episode 19)Eye in the Sky (2015), directed by Gavin Hood from a script by Guy Hibbert, depicts the operation of a multinational team aimed at high-level operatives from the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Nairobi, Kenya. When the British army learns of the location of the suspects, it plans to capture them. But surveillance reveals the suspects are preparing two new recruits to carry out a suicide bombing. British military officials, with their U.S. partner, seek to shift the operation from capture to kill. Officials must decide whether to authorize a lethal drone strike to avoid a possible terrorist attack, despite t...
2024-02-071h 06Law on FilmNorma Rae (Guest: Fred B. Jacob) (episode 18)Norma Rae (1979) describes the struggle of Norma Rae Webster (Sally Field), a factory worker with limited education, to unionize a textile mill in North Carolina. The film was directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., and is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton (as told in the 1975 book Crystal Lee, A Woman of Inheritance by New York Times reporter Henry P. Leifermann). Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Leibman), a union organizer from New York City, persuades Norma to help him organize a union. But Norma and Reuben must overcome a series...
2024-01-311h 11Law on FilmA Civil Action (Guest: Jennifer Corinis) (episode 17)A Civil Action (1998) is based on Jonathan Harr’s critically acclaimed book of the same name. Written and directed by Steve Zaillian, the film starts John Travolta, and features supporting performances by Robert Duvall (who was nominated for an Oscar), William H. Macy, James Gandolfini, John Lithgow, Kathleen Quinlan, and Tony Shalhoub. The film tells the true the story of the court battle over environmental pollution in Woburn, MA, in the 1970s and 1980s, where trichloroethylene (TCE), a solvent used in industrial operations, contaminated the local water supply, leading to numerous fatal cases of leukemia (including in small children) and...
2024-01-161h 10Law on FilmSeason One Wrap Up & Season Two PreviewLaw on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.htmlYou can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com
2023-12-1902 minLaw on FilmIndiana Jones Trilogy (Guest: Lucas Lixinski) (episode 16)This episode explores the iconic Indiana Jones trilogy, some of the most popular and well-known movies of all time. The trilogy consists of the first three movies in the series: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984); and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). The films are based on a story by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. They feature archaeologist (and adventurer) Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) as he travels across the world in the years before World War II to obtain valuable historical, cultural, and religious artifacts. The trilogy (and especially...
2023-12-0551 minLaw on FilmCourted (L'Hermine) (France) (Guests: Fred Davis & Sam Bettwy) (episode 15)Courted (French: L'Hermine), a 2015 French drama directed by Christian Vincent, is centered around a criminal trial in France. The accused, Martial Beclin (Victor Pontecorvo), is charged with manslaughter, which carries a possible twenty-year prison sentence, for allegedly kicking his seven-month-old daughter to death. The trial is conducted in France’s cour d’assises, which hears more serious crimes. The president and senior judge, Michel Racine (Fabrice Luchini), runs a tight ship. Courted offers valuable insights into judges, jurors, and criminal procedure in France, and provides a vehicle to compare criminal trials there to those in the United States. The film...
2023-11-2156 minLaw on FilmNever Rarely Sometimes Always (Guest: Alexa Kolbi-Molinas) (episode 14)Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) centers on the struggles faced by 17-year-old Autumn Callahan (Sidney Flanigan) to obtain an abortion after learning that she’s pregnant. Autumn travels from her small town in central Pennsylvania to New York City, where she seeks to obtain the abortion, accompanied by her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder). Autumn and Skylar must overcome a series of obstacles and persevere in what is ultimately a traumatizing experience. Written and directed by Eliza Hittman, the film was released in the twilight of the Roe/Casey era, the nearly 50-year period when abortion was recognized as a constitutional ri...
2023-11-071h 00Law on FilmThe Rack (1956) & The Manchurian Candidate (1962) (Guest: Lisa Hajjar) (episode 13)The Rack (1956), directed by Arnold Laven and written by Rod Serling (originally for television) tells the story of a decorated war hero Captain Edward W. Hall, Jr. (played by Paul Newman), who returns home after being captured and held prisoner in the Korean War. While a POW, Hall was subjected to mental torture and collaborated with his captors. Hall is court-martialed; his attorney (Lt Col. Frank Wasnick, played by Edmond O’Brien) tries to justify his conduct by showing the pressure he was under. Hall, however, is found guilty because he concedes could have resisted more, as soldiers who ex...
2023-10-2458 minLaw on FilmMichael Clayton (Guest: Peggy McGuinness) (episode 12)The title character in Michael Clayton is a “fixer” for a prominent New York City law firm. Michael Clayton (George Clooney) helps the firm’s managing partner Marty Bach (Sidney Pollack) and his colleagues navigate tricky situations for the firm’s wealthy clients, while seeking to manage challenges in his own personal and family life. The firm’s top litigator, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) discovers that one of the firm’s major clients, U-North, knew that its weed killer was carcinogenic and caused hundreds of deaths. When Arthur threatens to blow the whistle, U-North's General Counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) tri...
2023-10-101h 07Law on FilmThe Mauritanian (Guests: Nancy Hollander & Mohamedou Ould Slahi) (episode 11)The Mauritanian (2021) recounts Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s nightmare journey of secret rendition, torture, and detention at Guantanamo Bay—an odyssey that lasted 15 years, until Mr. Slahi was finally released in 2016, never having been charged with a crime. The film is based on the book, Guantanamo Diary, which Mr. Slahi wrote and had published while still a prisoner at Guantanamo. The book became a critically acclaimed international bestseller. The film was directed by Kevin Macdonald and features Tahar Rahim as Mohamedou Slahi, Jodie Foster as Nancy Hollander, Mr. Slahi’s lead lawyer, Shailene Woodley as Teri Duncan, her co-counsel, and Benedi...
2023-09-261h 16Law on FilmMy Cousin Vinny (Guest: Judge Jed S. Rakoff) (episode 10)My Cousin Vinny (1992) tells the story of two college students from New York (played by Ralph Maccio and Mitchell Whitfield) who are mistakenly arrested and charged with the murder of a store clerk in Alabama. They turn to one of their cousins, Vincent (“Vinny”) LaGuardia Gambini, played by Joe Pesci, for help. Vinny is a personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn who is newly admitted to the bar and has virtually no experience. But somehow Vinny, with the assistance of his savvy fiancé Mona Lisa Vito, played by Marisa Tomei in an Oscar-winning role, turns in a brilliant courtroom performance and g...
2023-09-1250 minLaw on FilmShort Summer BreakWe'll be taking a short break, but will be back in September with exciting new episodes.Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to...
2023-08-2200 minLaw on FilmFruitvale Station (Guest: Michael Pinard) (episode 9)Fruitvale Station (2013) is based on the real-life events leading to the death of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer on New Year’s Day 2009 at the Fruitvale district station in Oakland, California. The film depicts the final day in Oscar Grant’s life, interspersed with flashbacks from his past, which together provide a richly layered picture a young man whose life was tragically cut short. The film was written and directed by Ryan Coogler (in his first feature film), and stars Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant...
2023-08-0841 minLaw on FilmArgentina, 1985 & Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (Guest: Rachel López) (episode 8)This episode examines Argentina, 1985 (2022) (directed by Santiago Mitre) and the documentary, Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (2011) (directed by Pamela Yates). Both works engage with questions of transitional justice, or how societies confront mass atrocities committed by a prior repressive regime. Argentina, 1985 depicts the Trial of the Juntas in Argentina, where a prosecution team led by Julio César Strassera (Ricardo Darín) and future-ICC chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo (Peter Lanzani), sought to bring leaders of Argentina’s former military dictatorship to justice for human rights abuses committed during the so-called Dirty War. Granito: How to Nail a Dict...
2023-07-251h 01Law on FilmJudgment at Nuremberg (Guest: Kevin Jon Heller) (episode 7)Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) depicts the trial of Nazi judges before the U.S. military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, following World War II. The film was directed by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Abbie Mann; it features a sensational cast that includes Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell (who won an Oscar for best actor), Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, and William Shatner. The film provides a gripping account of the “Judges’ Trial” or "Justice Case" (as it has become known), exploring issues around individual and collective guilt, the challenges facing tribunals seeking to punish mass atrocit...
2023-07-1156 minLaw on Film12 Angry Men (Guest: Elkan Abramowitz) (episode 6)12 Angry Men (1957) remains one of the greatest courtroom dramas. Directed by Sidney Lumet from a screenplay by Reginald Rose, the film stars Henry Fonda as the hold-out juror among his peers who are ready to quickly convict a teenager charged with murder in a New York court. Through a series of dramatic moments, Fonda eventually persuades his fellow jurors that there remains a reasonable doubt about the defendant’s innocence, forcing them to address their own preconceptions and prejudices in the process. Fonda (who coproduced the film), teams up with a sensational ensemble cast that includes Lee J. Cobb, Jac...
2023-06-2747 minLaw on FilmKramer v. Kramer & Marriage Story (Guest: Solangel Maldonado) (episode 5)Kramer v. Kramer (1979) and Marriage Story (2019) reflect major shifts in the legal and social landscape around marriage, divorce, and child custody over the last four decades. Kramer v. Kramer, written and directed by Robert Benton, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Jane Alexander, captured the zeitgeist of its era, becoming the top grossing film of 1979 and sweeping the Oscars; Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, and starring Adam Driver, Scarlet Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta, offers a gripping depiction of the disintegration of a marriage in America today. We are joined by Solangel Ma...
2023-06-1347 minLaw on FilmThe Trial of the Chicago 7 (Guest: Gerald Lefcourt) (episode 4)This episode examines The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, with an all-star cast, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Rylance, and Frank Langella. The film is based on the 1969 trial of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, and other anti-Vietnam War protestors prosecuted for conspiracy in connection with the mass protests —and brutal crackdown by police—at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (The eighth defendant, Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was severed from the case after being bound and gagged in the courtroom on the judge’s order...
2023-05-281h 10Law on FilmZero Dark Thirty & The Report (Guest: Karen Greenberg) (episode 3)This episode looks at two films from the “War on Terrorism”: Zero Dark Thirty (2012), directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written Mark Boal; and The Report (2019), written and directed by Scott Z. Burns. Zero Dark Thirty, which stars Jessica Chastain as a CIA agent, depicts the nearly decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Report, which stars Adam Driver, examines the investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Senator Dianne Feinstein, into the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. The films are often in dialogue with each other, and offer competing accounts of the U.S. government’s embrace of tortu...
2023-05-1650 minLaw on FilmAnatomy of a Murder (Guest: Joshua Dratel) (episode 2)This episode explores Anatomy of a Murder (1959), the legendary courtroom drama produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The film features an outstanding cast, including Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, George C. Scott, and Eve Arden. It also includes the real-life Joseph N. Welch, who played a key role in finally taking down Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. The film is widely regarded as one of the best courtroom dramas in the history of cinema. Joshua Dratel, a leading criminal defense attorney, joins as my guest expert to help examine this memorable film and to break...
2023-05-021h 04Law on FilmBreaker Morant (Guest: Michel Paradis) (episode 1)This episode examines Breaker Morant, the 1980 Australian New Wave film depicting the military trial of Harry ("Breaker") Morant and two other Australian soldiers for war crimes committed during the Second Boer War in South Africa. The film, directed by Bruce Beresford, offers a gripping account of the trial and raises a host of questions about law and justice during wartime--questions that are as relevant today as they were when the trial took place more than a century ago. I am joined on this episode by veteran attorney Michel Paradis, who has served as military defense counsel in landmark war...
2023-04-181h 01
Creative MKE"We Are Not Ghouls" from Good Credit ProductionsThis episode finds Elisabeth in conversation with Milwaukee filmmaker Chris James Thompson, of Good Credit Productions. Chris’s second full length feature film, We Are Not Ghouls, will be released February 28th on video on demand (Itunes, Roku). The film is about US Air Force JAG Attorney Yvonne Bradley, who volunteered to defend Binyam Mohamed, a man who was facing a death penalty case at Guantanamo Bay in 2005. Believing the detainees at Guantanamo were ‘the worst of the worst’ in the war on terror, Yvonne's world was turned upside down as she arrived in Cuba and began to untan...
2023-01-1033 min
Lawyer 2 LawyerWar CrimesA war crime is defined as a violation of the laws or customs of war as established by international customary law and treaties. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, pushing for control in the east and south of Ukraine. Days later, on February 28th, Karim Khan,the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, said he had opened a war crimes investigation following this invasion. And on April 4th, President Biden called for “ the prosecution of Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes over the discovery in Bucha, Ukraine, of mass graves and bodies of bound civilians shot at close rang...
2022-04-1534 min
Tokyo Wave#88 - Jonathan HafetzInternationally recognized constitutional and human rights lawyer Dr. Jonathan Hafetz shares his experience defending prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and demystifies some of the darker elements of the US Government’s War on Terror in the post 9/11 era. Aaron and Parker discuss a government report finding over 20% of Japan's import items highly dependent on China and a Tokyo resident referred to prosecutors for capturing 22 wild birds.
2022-02-111h 06
Vital Interests PodcastJonathan Hafetz and the Politicization of Justice, American-styleJonathan Hafetz talks about Adham Hassoun, Enemy Combatants and today’s Department of Justice. Vital Interests Podcast with Karen Greenberg is brought to you by the Center on National Security at Fordham Law.
2020-08-0447 min