AS A LAWYER ALL SHE WANTED WAS THE TRUTH. AS A DAUGHTER ALL SHE WANTED WAS HIS INNOCENCE. HOW WELL DO YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR FATHER?
When Michael Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is accused of having committed war crimes in Hungary 40 years earlier, his daughter, attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange), decides to represent him.
Another politically charged film from Costa-Gavras, this time with a script from a man who is essentially pulling the same tricks as when he wrote Jagged Edge (1985) and Betrayed (1988). Lange is very good as the daughter who desperately wants to believe her father, and Mueller-Stahl is even better as the potential war criminal.
Everything is pretty obvious, but the story is interesting enough.
1989-U.S. 123 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Irwin Winkler. Directed by Costa-Gavras. Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas. Cast: Jessica Lange (Ann Talbot), Armin Mueller-Stahl (Michael Laszlo), Frederic Forrest (Jack Burke), Donald Moffat, Lukas Haas, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Michael Rooker.
Trivia: Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau were considered for the part of Laszlo. After writing this script, Eszterhas learned that his own father had been an active Fascist during the war.
Berlin: Golden Bear.