In the spirit of full disclosure, I lived most of my life in Louisiana. It's a popular background for all sorts of drama: the quintessential place for all things hot and sweltering, spicy and smothered, and shadowy and mysterious. I love seeing movies set in my home state, and I get to see a lot of them because of this. One thing I can't take, however, are bad stereotypes and accents. In this movie, Calvin's grandmother's accent is charming, but a little hard to believe for the era this story takes place in. Honestly, I don't think I've heard "honey child" or "come here directly" anywhere in film in the last 10 years, and it seems almost borderline offensive.
The music is not the greatest, and it's one thing that pulls this movie down to a made-for-Lifetime affair. It's the same sappy theme, over and over, and it's repeated so much that it's a little patronizing. It's like they didn't think the audience could tell when a moment was emotional, or someone was at a turning point and they wanted to make sure you couldn't possibly miss any of the 30 or so magical moments in the movie. Oh, wait a minute. I just checked up on this movie, and it actually was made for Lifetime Network. I don't want to say I called it, but, wow.
There are several conversations between Calvin and Prissy throughout the years that are simply not resolved, or chalked up to "well, he's cranky because of the whole jail thing." It's hard to justify that when he makes violent, sexist, sexual, and racist remarks to the only person who has the drive to work on his case. Then again, it does show how hard Prissy worked, and it was just one more element of her life that was spiraling out of control that she was forced to endure and overcome. It's also a not so subtle way to show that there are racial tensions in the South that have continued to this day, and will probably not see an end any time soon. The movie is a whole lot better about this kind of thing when it doesn't try so hard to be obvious. Unfortunately, those times are few and far between.
There are some loose ends at the end of the movie, but for a story based on real life, this isn't unrealistic. It's nice to see real footage of Calvin and Prissy at the end of the story, just to bring home the fact that this nightmare really happened, and really was resolved. But still, Prissy's brush with the potential real criminal is never mentioned again, and neither is Calvin's relationship with his wife and children. It just seems like for a movie based on reality, it would be nice to know a little bit more about the real people involved, if only in a special feature. The special feature included with this movie is a "making of" feature, but it's not particularly deep or insightful into the real people or the actors that made this movie.
I did like the story of The Wronged Man, but for big-screen entertainment, it just wasn't enough. Watching this movie, however, will probably spark an interest in the subject of DNA used to exonerate innocent people who have lived their lives behind bars. Calvin was one of many who were put in prison right before the revolution of DNA testing and its use as evidence. It's quite a shocking and interesting subject that doesn't get much attention today since DNA testing is now almost everywhere we look. Other than that, it's hard to keep focused on a movie that feels like a drawn out TV drama.
