The Confession

Rating:
Summary: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Review: If nothing else, THE CONFESSION is an honest attempt to look at our society and see what is really important: when healthcare professionals take their jobs seriously, when does a cigarette break justify the death of a five year old with a burst appendix? Ben Kingsley stars as a father whose son dies in his arms in a taxi on the way to another hospital, because the clerk, doctor and nurse in the emergency room failed to meet their responsibilities. While a bit overblown in execution, the movie achieves its thrust on this tragic incident. Kingsley later murders in cold blood those three medical professionals and then wants to be punished for the crimes.
Step in seedy Alec Baldwin as a career-driven lawyer who wants to become District Attorney, who is given the case and told to plead Kingsley not guilty due to insanity. There's a deeper reason for this plot device, and it involves more than just Kingsley's guilt.
While Baldwin and Amy Irving do well in their roles as the lawyer and Kingsley's wife, the movie suffers most because of the fiercely unemotional performance of Kingsley. While one can feel his rage, his cold demeanor, the way he treats his wife, and his inability to think outside his own rage, makes for a very unsympathetic character. Softening him up some would have made the movie more relative.
Still, a good, well done film overall.

Rating:
Summary: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Review: If nothing else, THE CONFESSION is an honest attempt to look at our society and see what is really important: when healthcare professionals take their jobs seriously, when does a cigarette break justify the death of a five year old with a burst appendix? Ben Kingsley stars as a father whose son dies in his arms in a taxi on the way to another hospital, because the clerk, doctor and nurse in the emergency room failed to meet their responsibilities. While a bit overblown in execution, the movie achieves its thrust on this tragic incident. Kingsley later murders in cold blood those three medical professionals and then wants to be punished for the crimes.
Step in seedy Alec Baldwin as a career-driven lawyer who wants to become District Attorney, who is given the case and told to plead Kingsley not guilty due to insanity. There's a deeper reason for this plot device, and it involves more than just Kingsley's guilt.
While Baldwin and Amy Irving do well in their roles as the lawyer and Kingsley's wife, the movie suffers most because of the fiercely unemotional performance of Kingsley. While one can feel his rage, his cold demeanor, the way he treats his wife, and his inability to think outside his own rage, makes for a very unsympathetic character. Softening him up some would have made the movie more relative.
Still, a good, well done film overall.

Rating:
Summary: what a disappointment
Review: this movie starts off so promising...a father takes his sick son into an emergency room and is ignored...the son dies....what follows is a thematic disaster...the strong moral and ethical message is diluted with heavy doses of adultery and polital corruption...the film should have stayed focused on the original premise - what is right and wrong and the responsibility in choosing either path....the two heavyweight actors are reduced to featherweights....'the verdict' this is not...only watch this one to see how far awry hollywood can get.