An unorthodox investigation into the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. Using stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.
death penalty texas investigation dallas trial murder police officer miscarriage of justice
A private user reviewed The Thin Blue Line (1988)
True investigative journalism
Having enjoyed the work of Mr. Morris in Brief History of Time, a close and heartfelt biography about the work and life of the near total paralysed cosmologist Stephen Hawking -- I decided to explore Morris' earlier work.
"True Crime Story" was pretty much the tagline and all that I knew of this documentary before dwelling to the usual eerie atmosphere, that almost all of the Morris' documentaries encapsulate.
Morris trade mark.
Thin Blue Line starts slowly, alternating from the re-enactments from the Crime scene to the interviewees.
As the story changes from perspective to perspective of the eye-witnesses to the accused cop killer Randall Adams, so do the re-enactments, giving
us all the more blurry scope of the true happenings of that day, when Randall Adams supposedly killed a police officer.
The approach of the documentary itself is cold and devoid of any emotion, but as the story progress, so does the subliminal emotional impact start to grow up, as we realise the truth is not really what we thought it at first to be.
Or someone innocent starts to look so guilty all of a sudden.
I appreciate this work of Errol Morris and his uncompromising search for the truth.
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