Cameron Todd Willingham wakes up in the middle of the night to a nightmare scenario: One of his three daughters calls for his help as their house is engulfed in flames. The fire kills all three of his young children – and then Willingham himself is charged with murder and sentenced to death. But he continues to insist that he is innocent, and eventually a few people start to believe that he may be telling the truth. But will his case be reconsidered in time? Find out in Trial By Fire, a 2019 movie currently planted in the Netflix Top 10, which is based on a true story.
The Gist: Cameron Todd Willingham (Jack O’Connell) is going through hell – and according to prosecutors, it’s one of his own making. Trial By Fire begins from an across-the-street vantage on the modest home that Todd shares with Stacy (Emily Meade) and their three daughters, as a neighbor notices an early-morning fire erupting from within. Cameron makes it out, but he’s unable to save his children; Stacy, the nominal breadwinner, isn’t home yet from her night shift. With seeming evidence of arson, Todd is quickly convicted, though Stacy protests their tumultuous relationship being used as further evidence of abuse. Todd is sentenced to death, and much of Trial By Fire follows his acclimation to life in prison, and his eventual friendship with playwright Elizabeth Gilbert (Laura Dern), who meets Stacy’s mother by chance and becomes convinced of Todd’s innocence.
What Will It Remind You Of?: Though the movie is likely experiencing a surge in popularity because of its true-crime bona fides – yes, it is a true story – this earnest biographical drama is reminiscent of legal and prison dramas of the 1990s (when much of the movie also happens to be set), like Dead Man Walking, as well as the recent Michael B. Jordan drama Just Mercy.
Performance Worth Watching: Jack O’Connell, an English performer who has starred in below-par movies from actor-directors Jodie Foster (Money Monster) and Angelina Jolie (Unbroken), skillfully inhabits a man who many would dismiss out of hand as a lowlife, and allowing him both his weaknesses and his humanity.
Sex and Skin: In brief flashbacks, there’s a raw sexuality between Todd and Stacy that gives their relationship an additional dimension.
Memorable Dialogue: Much of it is boilerplate, but the conversations between Todd and his fellow inmate Ponchai (McKinley Belcher III) feel more specific, lived-in, and rueful than the rest.
Our Take: The director Edward Zwick is a high-toned journeyman who specializes in any number of genres that have fallen out of favor in contemporary Hollywood, including war drama (Courage Under Fire), romance (Love and Other Drugs), epic western (Legends of the Fall), and historical action (The Last Samurai). Trial by Fire stands apart from those not in craft – it’s sturdy, dramatically effective, and involving – but through its lack of a marquee movie star on the level of Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, or Anne Hathaway. That’s not meant as a dig at Laura Dern, who is typically empathetic as the woman who comes to be convinced of Todd’s innocence and, moreover, his worth as a human being regardless of his past. But this movie ultimately isn’t supposed to be Elizabeth’s story, and good as Dern is, the details of how and why she becomes so involved in this case – Todd’s reasoning for wanting to write her letters, and her willingness to hear him out – are left opaque, and not in a particularly provocative way. The more compelling material follows Todd’s time on death row, and how he’s able to improve himself, growing more in touch with his potential, his feelings of grief and guilt (despite his seeming innocence, he’s haunted by his inability to save his daughters), until the relentlessness of the death penalty looms ever heavier over the remainder of his life. Maybe a big star in the role would have distracted from that journey; at the same time, any shadings that appeared in Zwick’s past work tended to be provided by actors. (There’s a reason his best movie is the Denzel showcase Courage Under Fire.) Whatever the reason, Trial by Fire isn’t top-tier Zwick. It’s also more thoughtful than a lot of straight-to-streaming junk, though, recalling an earlier era of baseline competence.
Our Call: There are better dramas about the barbarism of the death penalty – Just Mercy, which came out the year after this one, comes immediately to mind – as well as better vehicles for Laura Dern’s acting. On the other hand, if you can handle grim subject matter, Todd’s story is compelling (and frustrating) enough to STREAM IT.
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.
Stream Trial by Fire on Netflix