The film begins at night, a blonde woman rustles through the city streets like so many pieces of trash around her. Immediately the audience knows that something is wrong, as she listlessly wanders past stray cats, steaming grates and a vigil for a missing child. She enters a local hospital, pushing open the door with a bloodied hand and collapses into the care of the doctors running about her.
Brenda Martin, played by Julianne Moore (The Big Lebowski), reveals to Detective Lorenzo Council, played by Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), that she has been the victim of a carjacking. Council senses there is more to the story, asking her questions with increasing intensity, until she reveals her son was in the car.
This premise is terrifying, as it introduces the central question of the film -- how best can a parent watch over her children? A similar theme was reflected in the recent film, The Forgotten, also with Julianne Moore. The similarity of these two films may suggest that Moore has been typecast as a neglectful mother character. The role of Brenda Martin, however, is not merely the stereotypical rich white woman in The Forgotten, but instead, a poor white woman, allowing for a marginal increase in depth.
The film's strength centers around the strong performance of Samuel L. Jackson, whose tough but virtuous Detective Lorenzo Council demonstrates a great depth of emotion. He struggles to keep order between a police force bent on finding the kidnapper at any cost and the tenants of the Gannon projects, who feel the kidnapping investigation is merely an excuse for racist police to persecute them. Racial tension builds to unrealistic levels at times but remains an important thematic element throughout the film.
While the script remains dramatically tense, the characters are often caught up in long, excessive speeches that stretch the attention spans of the audience and cause information to be lost or obscured in the shadow of more memorable scenes. Most notably a speech by the mother of another kidnapped child, played by Edie Falco (The Sopranos), drags on unnecessarily and uncomfortably long, distracting from the narrative. Such speeches also cause a drought of interesting camera work in the film by relying on close-ups and standard medium shots.
Director Joe Roth (America's Sweethearts) has not directed a serious drama in twenty years. In fact, his last directorial effort, Christmas with the Kranks, is perhaps the furthest thing from serious drama as can be imagined. His sudden leap is questionable and has proven premature in this film.
Ultimately, Freedomland is watchable but not worth the full price of admittance. I would suggest that readers wait until this movie comes out on video.
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