Movies (and TV) at the Law Library

Honor, courage, and sacrifice are revealed in unexpected ways as a ranking U.S. prisoner in a Nazi POW camp is joined in December 1944 by a law-student lieutenant who'd been captured despite his father's powerful military connections. When a black pilot from the famous Tuskeegee airmen is falsely accused of murdering a fellow prisoner, Lt. Hart tries his case and discovers the real motivation behind the ranking officer's kangaroo court.

Shedding light on the current debate over immigration reform and the use of 'guest workers' in American agriculture, this historical documentary examines what was known as the Bracero Program--a system put in place from 1942 to 1964 to recruit Mexican farm laborers for temporary work in the United States. The film presents ample testimony from surviving braceros as well as family members and descendants of these displaced workers, who typically went north expecting not just high wages but also humane treatment and working conditions--expectations that were rarely if ever met. Featured experts include Mexican activist and politician Victor Quintana, Bracero Program in California author Henry Anderson, and several others. Extensive archival material is also included.

When those charged with defending the rule of law betray that trust, the victory of tyrants is assured. Hitler's Courts featured archival footage from the Nazi era, rarely seen photographs, and interviews with leading voices in international law. Experts examine the perversion of the courts under Nazi rule and discuss how distinguished lawmakers capable of complicity in the largest mass murder of men, women and children in history -- Container label.

Analyzes and discuses so called "frivolous law suits" and the impact of tort reform on the United States judicial system. Discusses several cases and relates each to tort reform in the U.S.: Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants (public relations campaign to instigate tort reform); Colin Gourley's malpractice lawsuit and caps on damages; the prosecution of Mississippi Justice Oliver Diaz and judicial elections; Jamie Leigh Jones v. Halliburton Co. and mandatory arbitration. Exposes how corporations spent millions on a propaganda campaign to distort Americans' view of lawsuits, forever changing the civil justice system. From the infamous case of the woman who sued McDonalds over spilled coffee to the saga of the Mississippi Supreme Court Justice deemed 'not corporate enough' by business interests, this program tears apart the conventional wisdom about 'frivolous lawsuits.'

Colonel Behrani is a once-wealthy Iranian immigrant who struggles for dignity while working low-wage jobs in America. Kathy Nicolo is a troubled young house cleaner striving to put her life in order. When Kathy's house is mistakenly put up for public auction-- and Behrani risks the last of his family fortune to buy it-- the two become enmeshed in a desperate conflict.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, in the prime of his boxing career, finds himself wrongfully convicted of murder. Sentenced to life in prison, Carter's published memoir, The Sixteenth Round, inspires a teenager from Brooklyn and three Canadian activists who believe in the truth, to join forces with Carter to prove his innocence.

Sam Dawson has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He works at a Starbucks, is obsessed with the Beatles and has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them. As the daughter reaches age 7, Sam's limitations start to become a problem. When the authorities take his daughter away, Sam shames a high-priced lawyer into taking his case pro bono. In the process, he teaches her a great deal about love, and whether it's really all you need.

A priest hears a murderer's confession and then becomes the murder suspect himself.

Examines the 1975 incident where armed FBI agents illegally entered the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, resulting in the deaths of a Native American and two FBI agents. Explores the controversy and potential abuse of justice surrounding the case of Leonard Peltier, who was the sole person in the incident convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

A hard hitting docu-drama about two ex-cons who ruthlessly murder a Kansas family in 1959 in order to steal their non-existent stash of money.

Fact-based film about Gerry Conlon, a young Irish punk who is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and forced to confess to a terrorist bombing. He and his father, along with friends of Gerry, are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. There, his father shows his true strength, and Gerry works to prove their innocence and clear his father's name.

Former Vice President Al Gore explains the facts of global warming, presents arguments that the dangers of global warning have reached the level of crisis, and addresses the efforts of certain interests to discredit the anti-global warming cause. Between lecture segments, Gore discusses his personal commitment to the environment, sharing anecdotes from his experiences.

A small Tennessee town gained national attention in 1925 when a biology schoolteacher was arrested for violating state law and teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in the classroom.

When former executive Jeffrey Wigand is fired by his employer, one of the largest tobacco companies in America, Wigand agrees to become a paid consultant for a story by veteran 60 minutes producer Lowell Bergman, regarding alleged unethical practices within the tobacco industry. But what begins as a temporary alliance leads to a lengthy battle for both men to save their reputations and more.

Miles Massey is a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis. While representing his wealthy client Rex Rexroth, Miles meets his match in Rex's gold-digging wife, Marilyn. He's impressed by her similarly heartless ways of using marriage to fuel an expensive lifestyle, but Miles still manages to defeat her in court. With Marilyn looking to get her revenge and Miles finding himself attracted to her, the two engage in a ruthless romantic pursuit to out-swindle each other.

In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats, all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women's Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over 12 districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more.

An attorney falls in love with her charming, manipulative defendant who is the prime suspect in a vicious murder case.

The story of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison whose investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy became an obsession.

American judge Daniel Haywood presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of "legalizing" Nazi atrocities. But as graphic accounts of sterilization and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood into making the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career.

A Harvard Law School professor reopens a murder investigation on behalf of a Death Row inmate who claims he was forced by a sinister lawman to confess to a crime he didn't commit. On the surface, it seems to be a straight-ahead case of the prisoner's guilt or innocence. But nothing really lies on the surface of this mystery, set in the Florida swamplands.

"Follows Claudine, a young and courageous human rights lawyer, in her struggle against injustice and widespread impunity in Congo. She investigates the case of Masamba, a soldier who was convicted of rape, and discovers that his trial was corrupt and unfair. He was jailed without any concrete evidence. In Claudine's journey to obtain justice, she uncovers a system where the basic principles of law are virtually ignored. Masamba's trial also raises questions about the financial support that the international community and NGOs offer to the Congolese judicial system. Is it creating a justice that's for sale? And if so, who pays the price?"-- Women Make Movies web site

When his wife walks out, Ted Kramer and his six-year-old son have a chance to really get to know each other. Then Ted's wife returns and she wants her son back.