Review of Freedomland (2006) by David G — 27 Jun 2011

An unusual thriller that packs a lot of themes into a relatively simple story - but is that necessarily a good thing? Julianne Moore plays Brenda, an ex-junkie single mother in New Jersey who wanders as if in a daze into a hospital claiming to have been carjacked while travelling to her workplace in the local projects. Her 4-year-old son was with her in the car at the time and the situation soon escalates into a kidnapping case. Brenda says that the perp was a young black man and the police, led by Brenda's hot-headed detective brother Danny (Ron Eldard), waste no time in locking down the area, something the predominantly black neighborhood understandably takes exception to. Stuck in the middle of a situation that could easily turn ugly is Lorenzo (Samuel L. Jackson) - a well-liked local cop who finds himself torn between defending his people and finding a missing child.

Racial tensions, class issues, police brutality, mental illness, God, single parenting, torn loyalties, drug abuse - there's a lot going on and many of the ideas show real promise but despite the hefty 2-hour running time you feel like it's overloaded, especially since there's little opportunity to focus on any one issue and they tend to fizzle out with little resolution, especially towards the end. Is it an interesting film but a jumbled and unfocused one and I think it would have benefited from being shorter and less ambitious.

As for the cast you've got SLJ, who's as effortlessly cool as always, and the likes of Edie Falco, Anthony Mackie and William Forsythe who provide solid backup. Julianne Moore's performance is a little harder to gauge given that she's acting her socks off to such an extent that it could be seen as too much. She's a great actress but this is the kind of Oscar-fishing performance that is routinely mocked by the more cynical film fan.