And justice for all [DVD]

Al Pacino plays Arthur Kirkland, an attorney who experiences firsthand corruption of the establishment that he works for. Burdened with the memory of clients who’ve suffered heinously at the hands of inefficient bureaucracy, Kirkland starts to realise how systemic the depravity is among his colleagues. Whilst defending a repulsive judge (whom he loathes for personal reasons) on a rape and battery charge, Kirkland is forced to decide whether or not he will become another a cog in the amoral wheel of justice. For Pacino this role was one of several he played in unsettling dramas, produced in the 1970s, that addressed urban angst, endemic judicial venality and the demise of the American dream. Directed by prolific Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the roof, Moonstruck, Rollerball, Iceman, Jesus Christ Superstar), whose films have at times addressed issues of racial injustice in America (In the heat of the night, A Soldiers story, The Hurricane). Conceived as a satire, the screenplay for the film was co-written by director Barry Levinson, who along with Valerie Curtin was nominated for an Academy Award.