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Race, Class, And Gender On Film

The movie, “A Time to Kill”, has been said to be the “Hollywood modernized” version of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It is a film that explores the struggle a black man faces to have a fair trial n a redneck, racist   town called Canton, Mississippi. A young African American girl is brutally raped by two redneck men, Pete and Billy Ray. The girl is found and rushed to the hospital and the two men are later arrested after bragging about the rape at a local bar. As the two men are entering the court room, the girls father, Carl, shoots and kills them. He recalls a similar case in a nearby town where a little girl was raped, and the men accused were acquitted. Carl does not want that to happen, so he takes the law into his own hands. Carl is arrested and taken to jail. Many local African American activists try to convince Carl to be represented by one of their high powered attorneys, Carl decides he wants his friend, Jake, a white man, to represent him.
As arraignment begins for Carl’s trial, he is denied bail and denied the petition for change of venue. Jake believes that the town the trial is being held at is too racist and Carl will be unable to receive a fair trial. The brothers of Billy Ray and Pete want revenge on Carl and Jake so they enlist the help of the KKK. A member of the KKK is caught planting a bomb under Jake’s porch, his house is burned to the ground, he gets shot at while leaving the court room and one of the law students helping in the case is viciously beaten by members of the KKK. Jake doesn’t want the KKK to win, so although his life is being threatened, he continues with the case. The day the trial begins, a riot between the KKK and African American members of the community erupts.
The jury that is selected for this trial consists of all White men and Women who all think Carl is guilty of murder. Jake does his best to show them that he is not accountable for the murdering of two White men, and to look past the color of Carl’s skin. In an...