Movies (and TV) at the Law Library

This film describes the practice of "honor killing" of women by male relatives for actions deemed dishonorable to their families in Kurdistan, Iraq, and highlights efforts by Kurdish activists to end the practice.

A female psychiatrist is appointed by a judge to evaluate three women who, strangers to each other, have each confessed to the murder of the same man. Their rage toward and hatred of their male-dominated society is gradually understood by the psychiatrist, who begins to question her own nature.

Fame and fortune become a hotbed of scandal when a Washington investigator uncovers corruption beneath the TV's hottest quiz show's glittering facade. The scandal implicates both the wildly popular champion and the disgruntled ex-champ.

A rookie lawyer is working on a high profile case involving a dying boy and the insurance company that denied his claim. He must battle seasoned lawyers in an attempt to uncover the corruption of the insurance company.

This is the original film from 1951 in Remastered form. The film depicts a rape and murder through the widely differing accounts of four witnesses, including the perpetrator and, through a medium (Fumiko Honma), the murder victim. The story unfolds in flashback, as the four characters ... recount the events of one afternoon in a grove.

At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation's highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans--until now.

The Rome Conference of 1998 was the culmination of 50 years of effort by the part of those seeking a humane world. Representatives from 140 governments and numerous NGOs were at the conference to establish the International Criminal Court (the ICC). The ICC came into being on July 1, 2002 ratifying the Rome Statutes. Though over 120 countries voted to create the International Criminal Court (ICC), some of the most powerful nations in the world -- China, Russia, and the United States -- refused to ratify the Rome Statutes. The U.S. claimed, among other items, that the ICC's authority to second-guess the actions taken and the results reached by participating states was an infringement on national sovereignty. Nevertheless, prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo issues arrest warrants for the rebel leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, puts four Congolese warlords on trial in The Hague, charges the president of Sudan with genocide and war crimes in Darfur, challenges the UN Security Council to have him arrested, and shakes up the Colombian criminal justice system.

A ruthless lawyer is shot during a robbery attempt and must rebuild his life without any memory of his past.

This courtroom drama concisely illustrates the legal and ethical challenges of enemy detention in the war on terror. Based on the transcripts of Guantánamo military tribunals, this film brings viewers inside an administrative hearing to determine whether a devout Muslim engineer from Pakistan should continue to be designated as an unlawful enemy combatant and held without trial. Regarding the difficult decision the three judges must make, it provides a vehicle to examine the most fundamental issues of due process, as they seek to balance individual liberties with national security interests.

Did European aristocrat Claus von Bulow attempt to murder his wife Sunny at their luxurious Newport mansion in 1980? The tabloids of the day certainly had their opinions. "You have one thing in your favor," defense attorney Alan Dershowitz told von Bulow, "Everybody hates you." Reversal of Fortune is the acclaimed movie version of events that had all America talking.

Arthur Raven is a successful corporate lawyer whose world is turned upside-down when he is assigned to draft the final appeal of a potentially innocent inmate as he is nearing his execution date.

Offers the first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. This definitive four-part series documents the context in which the laws of segregation known as the "Jim Crow" system originated and developed.

Eileen Atkins' one-woman stage performance recreates Virginia Woolf's talk to the women of Girton College, Cambridge. A call to women to declare their independence, talent and freedom to write, think, love and labor, and to control their own destinies, yet realize necessary communion on all levels between men and women.

"Two thrill-seeking friends (Granger and Dall) strangle a classmate and then hold a party for their victim's family and friends, serving refreshments on a buffet table fashioned from a trunk containing the lifeless body. When dinner conversation revolves around talk of the 'perfect murder,' their former teacher (Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious that his students have turned his intellectual theories into brutal reality."--Container.

After a man dies in a shooting incident, his wife files a lawsuit against the company that manufactured the gun. Her lawyer argues that the firm in question knew the shop which sold the weapon was not following federal regulations. As the case goes to trial, the firearm manufacturer takes no chances on the outcome, and they hire Rankin Fitch, a "jury consultant" who makes it his business to see that he knows enough about the jurors to be able to guarantee the result of the trial.

Colonel Terry Childers is a patriot and war hero. But when a peacekeeping mission he leads in Yemen goes terribly wrong, he finds himself facing a court martial. Accused of breaking the rules of engagement by killing unarmed civilians, Childers' only hope of vindication rests with comrade-in-arms Hays Hodges, a military lawyer of questionable abilities. Together, they face the battle of their lives.--Container.

A semidocumentary of the year-long struggle by Chicano zinc miners in New Mexico striking against unsafe working conditions. When an injunction is issued against the workers from picketing, the wives take up battle with a fury, leaving the husbands to care for home and children. They finally overcome the forces of the mine owner and the law that backs them up.

" ... explores how modern police interrogation tactics (including lies, threats and false evidence) place extraordinary pressures on suspects, and can encourage an innocent person to confess falsely."--Cover

"Tells the little-known story of the first known act of collective, violent resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States - a 1966 riot in San Francisco's impoverished Tenderloin neighborhood, three years before the famous gay riot at New York's Stonewall Inn" -- Container.

Lee Holloway has a few strikes against her when she applies for a secretarial position at the law office of E. Edward Grey. At first the work seems quite normal, but soon, in between typing, filing and coffee making, Lee and Mr. Grey embark on a more personal relationship together, crossing the lines of conduct that would give any human resources director the vapors.

""Red" Redding is a lifer who knows the ropes at Maine's Shawshank State Prison. New inmate Andy Dufresne is a quiet banker, unjustly convicted of murder. Andy's indomitable will earns Red's friendship and his resourcefulness brings hope and change to the entire prison. Andy is full of surprises--and he saves his best for last." -from container.

Karen Silkwood becomes contaminated with plutonium at her job, voices her protest at the indifference and denial of her company, and becomes a threat to the entire nuclear industry and the government agencies that monitor it. Based on a true story.

A murder trial has upset the quiet community of San Piedro, and now this tranquil village has become the center of controversy. For a local reporter the trial strikes home when he finds his ex-lover is linked to the case.

Documentary film following the relocation of some of the Carteret Islanders, a peaceful community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean, and now, some of the world's first environmental refugees. When rising seas threaten their survival, the islanders face a painful decision: they must leave their beloved land in search of a new place to call home. The film follows a group of young Carteret Islanders as they search for land in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea 50 miles across the open ocean. The move will not be easy as Bougainville is recovering from a 10-year civil war.

"Bizarre evidence leads Kathleen on a dangerous trail from Washington's seamy underbelly to the highest levels of government. And the closer she gets to the answers, the more her life is in danger. Cher and Dennis Quaid take the law into their own hands in this daring suspense thriller where everything is revealed in court--except the truth."

In a small corner of the most populous country in Africa, billions of dollars of crude oil flow under the feet of a desperate people. Immense wealth and abject poverty stand in stark contrast. The environment is decimated. The issues are complex, the answers elusive. The documentary film Sweet Crude tells the story of Nigeria's Niger Delta. The region is seething and the global stakes are high. But in this moment, there's an opportunity to find solutions. What if the world paid attention before it was too late?

Following a tragic schoolbus accident, high-profile lawyer Mitchell Stephens descends upon a small town. With promises of retribution and a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the grieving community, Stephens begins his investigation into the details of the crash. But beneath the town's calm, he uncovers a tangled web of lies, deceit and forbidden desires that mirrors his own troubled personal life. Gradually, we learn that Stephens has his own agenda, and that everyone has secrets to keep.