It's hard to believe that this movie was directed by a major director. It has no pacing, no sense of urgency. I kept thinking that it is the sort of movie Hollywood made very well in the 1930s with James Stewart or Gary Cooper - an individual trying to fight a corrupt establishment - but those movies held together much better than this.
Part of it is the acting. You get the impression that, with the exception of the leads, these are all just folks rather than trained actors. That makes them seem very real, certainly, but it also makes for a lot of flat moments that could have been more intense with actors who knew how to deliver dramatic lines.
On the other hand, the dialogue, much of it, seems painfully scripted and unnatural, especially during the discussions in the hall.
I couldn't get through all of this in one sitting. It just didn't hold me. Others have said that this is a story worth telling, and that is certainly true. I just wish it had been told in a more engaging fashion.
Part of it is the acting. You get the impression that, with the exception of the leads, these are all just folks rather than trained actors. That makes them seem very real, certainly, but it also makes for a lot of flat moments that could have been more intense with actors who knew how to deliver dramatic lines.
On the other hand, the dialogue, much of it, seems painfully scripted and unnatural, especially during the discussions in the hall.
I couldn't get through all of this in one sitting. It just didn't hold me. Others have said that this is a story worth telling, and that is certainly true. I just wish it had been told in a more engaging fashion.