WHAT’S IT ABOUT
The inspirational true story of Brian Banks, an all-American high school football star who finds his life upended when he’s wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Despite the lack of evidence, Banks gets railroaded through a broken justice system and sentenced to a decade of prison and probation. Years later, with the support of Justin Brooks and the California Innocence Project, Banks fights to reclaim his life and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NFL.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
When I first heard about this movie, I immediately dismissed it as another “They did us wrong” film. As a Black man, I apologize for the early assumption. I blame society for that. Brian Banks is so much more than another movie about a Black man being mistreated by “The Man.” Truth be told, it’s more about our screwed-up legal system and how easy it is to be incarcerated off of one person’s testimony. You begin to understand why an innocent man would agree to a plea deal. Brian was a sixteen-year-old boy being prosecuted as an adult. Even if he was an adult, the only people qualified to understand courtroom lingo are the people that study it. In Brian’s case, the one individual he had to rely on was his lawyer, or worse, his public defender. The years of Mr. Banks’ life he spent in prison could have been averted if anyone cared enough to find out the truth. But as seen in this film, we as a society are all too quick to judge and condemn a person never giving them a second thought. Everyone is guilty until proven otherwise. Even then, we are hesitant to release that person from the shackles of our minds. Brain Banks was wrongly accused and imprisoned by one fifteen-year-old female because she said he attacked her. He was handcuffed and arrested at home in bed while asleep because of what one girl said. Throughout the movie, you have no choice but to empathize with a situation that could have easily been anyone sitting in the theater. The worse part of the film was watching Brian try to obtain evidence while his new “attorney” seemed to discourage any attempts he made positive or not. In the end, Justin Brooks may have been his lawyer, but Brian was found innocent because he refused to accept the lie that kept him from his true freedom. I know this movie is not going to appeal to everyone since some feel nothing is wrong with our system. Then there are the racist folks that hate Brian for getting out of prison because that’s where they think all Black people belong. As I stated earlier, Brian Banks is not so much about race as it is our system. That means it doesn’t matter what color you are, this can happen to you. Mr. Banks went above and beyond to prove his innocence. My question to you is how much work would you put into proving YOUR freedom.
OUR RATING – A TRUE JUSTICE 9.5
Media
- Genre – Drama
- Street date
- Digital – October 29th 2019
- DVD/Blu-Ray – November 12th 2019
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
- Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish
Extras
- The Story Behind Brian Banks – Featurette