FREEDOMLAND

     A woman walks into a hospital, distraught and with bloody hands.  A detective, on his way to serve an arrest warrant, is working a New Jersey project development he claims as his territory.  While he is there, a police dispatcher radios an assault and car hijacking in this very area.  So begins Freedomland , a film directed by Joe Roth that attempts to raise questions about race relations and equality of justice in America.   Unfortunately, this film adaptation by Richard Price, of his novel of the same title, relies on a speech-heavy script, a disjointed and unrealistic plot line, and chaotic film direction that distract the viewer from focusing and reflecting on the larger issues presented.  The assault victim is a white woman, Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore), a former drug user and beloved teacher at a local school.   The black detective, Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson), is determined to straddle the racial divide in the police force, wanting both to do his job but also to ensure that the mainly black residents of the Armstrong projects receive equal treatment and protection from a predominantly white police force.

      Suspense is created by the feeling that Brenda is not telling the police everything about the hijacking, along with the fear of an impending riot in Armstrong due to the police lockdown.  Disappointingly, the suspense often feels forced and fake. Although a well-known and respected author, Price's screenplay of Freedomland is uneven. Too often throughout the film we are subjected to long monologues that are supposed to reveal more of a character but only slow the action. Loose ends in the script too glaring to ignore distract from the story.  A stellar cast of actors amazing at their craft do little to help the film.   Julianne Moore seems miscast; the viewer never quite believes her as a single mother with a troubled past and low self-esteem.  While Samuel L. Jackson is believable as a cop, one never gets a handle on his character; many of his decisions and actions don't always make sense.

      Freedomland may evoke the 1994 Susan Smith story, when a young mother deliberately drowned her two small sons and then blamed it on a black man, but in any event this film seems to perform either awkwardly or with insufficient depth when confronted with issues of race and the law.  A commendable effort that falls short of its goal.

                                    Misa Dayson