AS A LAWYER ALL SHE WANTED WAS THE TRUTH. AS A DAUGHTER ALL SHE WANTED WAS HIS INNOCENCE. HOW WELL DO YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR FATHER?

When Michael Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is accused of having committed war crimes in Hungary 40 years ago, his daughter, attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange), decides to represent him. Another politically charged film from Costa-Gavras, this time with a script from a writer who is essentially doing the same tricks he did when writing Jagged Edge (1985) and Betrayed (1988). Lange is very good as the daughter who desperately wants to believe her father, and Mueller-Stahl is even better as the potential war criminal. Everything is pretty obvious, but the story is interesting enough.

1989-U.S. 123 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Costa-Gavras. Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas. Cast: Jessica Lange (Ann Talbot), Armin Mueller-Stahl (Michael Laszlo), Frederic Forrest (Jack Burke), Donald Moffat, Lukas Haas, Cheryl Lynn Bruce.

Trivia: Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau were allegedly considered for the part of Laszlo. Joe Eszterhas’s own father was also accused of war crimes.

Berlin: Golden Bear.

IMDb