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Conviction

  • 2010
  • R
  • 1h 47m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
47K
YOUR RATING
Conviction (2010)
A working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.
Play trailer2:31
7 Videos
99+ Photos
True CrimeBiographyCrimeDrama

A working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction thr... Read allA working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.A working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.

  • Director
    • Tony Goldwyn
  • Writer
    • Pamela Gray
  • Stars
    • Hilary Swank
    • Sam Rockwell
    • Melissa Leo
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    47K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Tony Goldwyn
    • Writer
      • Pamela Gray
    • Stars
      • Hilary Swank
      • Sam Rockwell
      • Melissa Leo
    • 114User reviews
    • 167Critic reviews
    • 61Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 9 wins & 10 nominations total

    Videos7

    Conviction: Trailer #1
    Trailer 2:31
    Conviction: Trailer #1
    Conviction: Save The Day
    Clip 0:46
    Conviction: Save The Day
    Conviction: Save The Day
    Clip 0:46
    Conviction: Save The Day
    Conviction: Clip 1
    Clip 0:59
    Conviction: Clip 1
    Conviction: What's The Statue Of Limitations
    Clip 1:16
    Conviction: What's The Statue Of Limitations
    Conviction: We're Going To Be Friends
    Clip 0:49
    Conviction: We're Going To Be Friends
    Conviction: Clip 2
    Clip 0:57
    Conviction: Clip 2

    Photos103

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    Top cast79

    Edit
    Hilary Swank
    Hilary Swank
    • Betty Anne Waters
    Sam Rockwell
    Sam Rockwell
    • Kenny Waters
    Melissa Leo
    Melissa Leo
    • Nancy Taylor
    Thomas D. Mahard
    Thomas D. Mahard
    • Law Professor
    • (as Thomas Mahard)
    Owen Campbell
    Owen Campbell
    • Ben
    Conor Donovan
    Conor Donovan
    • Richard
    Laurie Brown
    Laurie Brown
    • Law Professor 2
    John Pyper-Ferguson
    John Pyper-Ferguson
    • Aidan
    Minnie Driver
    Minnie Driver
    • Abra Rice
    Ele Bardha
    Ele Bardha
    • Don
    Rusty Mewha
    • Desk Sergeant
    Marc Macaulay
    Marc Macaulay
    • Officer Boisseau
    Bailee Madison
    Bailee Madison
    • Young Betty Anne
    Tobias Campbell
    Tobias Campbell
    • Young Kenny
    Frank Zieger
    • Boyfriend
    J. David Moeller
    • Grandpa
    Scott Philyaw
    Scott Philyaw
    • Cop
    Karen Young
    Karen Young
    • Elizabeth Waters
    • Director
      • Tony Goldwyn
    • Writer
      • Pamela Gray
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews114

    7.247.3K
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    Featured reviews

    6blanche-2

    good performances

    "Conviction" stars Hillary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo, Peter Gallagher, and Juliette Lewis in the true-life story of Betty Anne Waters, who becomes an attorney in order to free her brother Kenny of a wrongful murder conviction.

    I saw Betty Anne profiled some time ago -- back then, I think she was still in law school.

    Kenny Waters is convicted of the murder of Katharina Brow (since she was German, I assume the original last name was Brau) who was viciously knifed in her home. The crime occurred in 1980, when there was no DNA testing, and Kenny had the same blood type as the perpetrator. Several witnesses, including Kenny's wife and ex-girlfriend, testify against him.

    Betty Anne, a mother with two children, makes the decision to go to law school in order to free her brother. At that time, she doesn't even have her GED.

    Betty Anne comes up against wall after wall, gets divorced, and her children, probably more to help her than anything else, finally go to live with their father. She moonlights running a bar.

    She contacts Barry Scheck (Gallagher) of the Innocence Project to enlist his group's help. Scheck needs evidence -- by then, it's been about 15 years since Kenny's conviction.

    This is a powerful story because it shows, again, what the determination of one person can achieve, and how his or her passion can inspire others to help.

    Hillary Swank is a gifted actress, and it's a shame that she hasn't gotten more roles like she had in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby. She's natural but intense as Betty Anne, and she can really pull at the heartstrings.

    Sam Rockwell as Kenny does a wonderful job, and the two have great chemistry together. You could feel his hopelessness, and his fear of being let down.

    Everyone is good in this film, with Juliette Lewis as an ex-girlfriend and Melissa Leo as policewoman Nancy Taylor standouts.

    The problem I have with this film is that, strip the movie of Hillary Swank and you've got a Lifetime movie. It just doesn't come off like a feature film in the way the story is told or in its focus. It's just a little bit left of cloying. Also, note to writers -- Kenny wasn't in jail, he was in prison. There's a difference.

    Despite this, it's a wonderful story, all the more dramatic because it's true. And you can't get enough of its message: One person can make a difference.
    8napierslogs

    A simple, dramatic story told well through emotional performances

    "Conviction" is a simple, dramatic story, told well. Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) puts herself through law school for the sole effort of freeing her innocent brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) from a life-sentence in prison for murder. Swank and Rockwell both carry this emotional film on their very strong shoulders.

    There are very few courtroom scenes, very few law school scenes, but it is filled with emotional connections between brother and sister as she visits him in prison, and as she tries living her own life. The characters dominate the beginning of the film, and the steps Swank has to take to free Rockwell keeps the film going towards the end.

    It is shot well, as this is clearly Massachusetts and it set the right feelings for the film without overpowering it. The highlights are Swank and Rockwell as they both play characters with elements that we have seen before that have given Swank Oscar wins and have given Rockwell popularity. Here, he has toned down his comic antics just enough for his performance to remain popular but should also give him his first Oscar nomination.

    The story may be missing a few elements that would have given it more substance to make it more interesting, but it seems to me, that's because the film-makers had a few restrictions in keeping to the true story. This may actually be a true story and not just based on one.

    I recommend "Conviction" for its emotional performances and for telling its simple story well.
    8EUyeshima

    Swank Is Back with a Sharp Cast in an Inspiring Fact-Based Story Bordering on Incredulity

    After making decidedly wrong turns into rom-com in 2007's "P.S. I Love You" and historical biopic in 2009's "Amelia", Hilary Swank is back in her element as Betty Ann Waters, a working-class single mother of two whose fierce loyalty to her troublemaking brother Kenny knows no bounds, in actor/director Tony Goldwyn's time-spanning, fact-based 2010 drama. Written by Pamela Gray (she and Goldwyn also collaborated on 1999's affecting "A Walk on the Moon"), the inspiring, potentially melodramatic plot line often borders on incredulity, but Swank's trademark iron-jawed tenacity is on full display here. At the same time, it's a primarily economic performance teetering on lunacy as her character is tightly bound to Kenny since they shared a painful childhood due to the neglect of a horrifying mother.

    In 1983, Kenny is convicted of the bloody murder of an elderly neighbor largely on the basis of testimony from two former girlfriends, both of whom claimed he confessed his actions to them. Neither Kenny nor Betty Anne can afford a good attorney, so she decides to become a lawyer even though she's a high school dropout. Also serving as one of the film's executive producers, Swank come back securely to the against-all-odds territory of Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) by following Betty Ann's sixteen-year journey from her GED through college, then law school, and finally passing the bar – all while she was raising two boys and working part-time at a local pub. The ending is predictable from a mile away, but the journey is not. The introduction of DNA evidence provides a linchpin that spins the story close to Lifetime-level dramatics, especially when Betty Ann solicits the assistance of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to overturning wrongful convictions. Gray's screenplay is solid enough, and Goldwyn's direction is assured within the back-and-forth treatment of the timeline.

    However, it's really the acting that is aces here. Beyond Swank's sterling work, Sam Rockwell brings an unpredictable furor and a surprising vulnerability to the showier role of Kenny. His rapport with Swank never feels forced, and the devotion of their sibling relationship is what really grounds the threat of hysterics in the film. The periphery is populated by a powerful squad of actresses turning in sharply etched work - Minnie Driver as Betty Ann's law-school friend Abra, whose comic spark highlights how pivotal her character is in representing the audience viewpoint; Melissa Leo ("Frozen River") as the malevolent arresting cop, whose secretive hostility provides the impetus for Kenny's conviction; Juliette Lewis as Kenny's dentally-challenged ex-girlfriend with a drunken confession scene that reveals the actress's long-forgotten raw talent below her usual giddiness; Karen Young in a brief scene as the unforgivable Mrs. Waters; and Ari Graynor ("Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist") as Kenny's embittered grown daughter. It's the cast's cumulative work that makes this movie intensely watchable.
    8bkoganbing

    Pro Bono Sister

    Conviction finds Hilary Swank trying to overturn the conviction for murder of her brother Sam Rockwell who was tried and convicted of robbing a neighbor woman of cash and jewelry. In her effort Swank goes several extra miles to achieve her end.

    The key in this film is the relationship of Swank and Rockwell. In a pinch they really feel they've got only each other. The film lays that out quite clearly with several flashback episodes showing their childhood and the neglect they had from their mother who was more interested in having a good time. The two kids learned to rely on each other.

    Swank has her problems, she gets married and has two sons, and later is divorced from her husband and they share custody of the kids. Rockwell however is in and out of trouble for all kinds of petty crimes. And it's well known he did not get along with the victim. Later he's arrested and released for the murder/robbery and he earns the special interest of arresting officer Melissa Leo. Two years later she arrests him again because of additional evidence. Rockwell is tried and convicted and given a life sentence.

    All of which does not faze Swank in the least. Few would do what she did, she put herself through law school just so Rockwell could be her first client. She even gets Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project to aid in her effort, but the leg work she has to do herself. Scheck is played here by Peter Gallagher.

    In a year where Melissa Leo won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter, she might well have gotten some consideration for her portrayal of Officer Nancy Perry. Quite frankly Rockwell is a complete jerk in this film, especially with his sexist remarks to Leo. But all it does is fuel her desire to see him in jail. Let's say Leo cuts quite a few corners and if it weren't for the new use of DNA evidence, Rockwell would still be in jail. At that it's still a long way from exoneration.

    However the best scenes are between Swank and Rockwell. Swank is unshakably convinced of her brother's innocence and goes the extra light year to prove it. The two really do come across as brother and sister.

    Conviction is quite the commercial for The Innocence Project and for Barry Scheck's legal talents. But most of all it's a story about family loyalty and blood bonds.
    9Loving_Silence

    Hopefully this film will finally give Sam Rockwell, the recognition he deserves.

    Wow conviction is definitely a deeply moving film and very well acted by Hilary Swank, Minnie Driver and Juliette Lewis. However Sam Rockwell is the one who really shines in Conviction. He plays his role as this man who got wrongfully convicted of murder, really raw and powerful. His character had many different emotions in this film. He had to express many different emotional feelings in the role. He had to be angry, sad, and happy and he portrayed it very well. If he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for this film, I'd be truly surprised if he doesn't get his recognition, he is severely underrated, so much so that it actually angers me, that the Academy doesn't recognize Sam Rockwell because he is definitely overdue for an Oscar nomination or win.

    10/10

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Betty Waters says "The movie is so true to life. Not every scene happened, but every emotion happened."
    • Goofs
      At one point Betty Anne Waters Hilary Swank tells Kenny Sam Rockwell that it's a good thing Massachusetts doesn't have the death penalty or he could already be dead. This however is incorrect. Massachusetts still had the death penalty in 1983, when Kenny was convicted. It was abolished the following year in 1984.
    • Quotes

      Betty Anne Waters: You are innocent!

      Kenny Waters: Are you sure about that?

      Betty Anne Waters: [crying] How can you ask me that? How can you ask me that?

    • Connections
      Featured in Late Show with David Letterman: Hilary Swank/Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      Whiskey in the Jar
      Public Domain

      Performed by Chris Hewitt and David Bagnall

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    FAQ18

    • How long is Conviction?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 5, 2010 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Hermanos por siempre
    • Filming locations
      • Jackson, Michigan, USA
    • Production companies
      • Omega Entertainment
      • Longfellow Pictures
      • Oceana Media Finance
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $12,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $6,783,129
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $102,351
      • Oct 17, 2010
    • Gross worldwide
      • $11,104,555
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 47 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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