Mark Sway, 11, and his younger brother Ricky witness the suicide of a glassy lawyer. Before killing himself, the latter will confide to Mark, the eldest, a heavy secret. A secret that will earn him to be pursued both by the police … and by the mafia that seeks to eliminate him to prevent him from speaking. A dedicated lawyer will do everything to get her young client out of this situation.
Mark tries to prevent the man from going through with his gesture: he removes the hose that the man had placed in the exhaust pipe and then connected to the cockpit. But the man notices this and locks the child with him in the car, promising them certain death, suffocated by the gae. He then reveals the location of a corpse: the victim of a gang of mobsters wanted by the FBI. Mark manages to get out of the car. Then the man shoots himself. The police found him at the scene. Him and his little brother.
For fear of being suspected of any involvement, he then tells the police that he simply found the man already dead.
But a prosecutor doubts his version of events and decides to prosecute him. Convinced that the man confided in the child before dying, he wants him to reveal the location of the corpse. It is then that Mark finds himself threatened by the mafia, who do not want the child to reveal the location of the body. Caught between two vices, the 11-year-old child starts looking for a lawyer.
He will eventually find a lawyer who, touched by his situation (he comes from a poor family and lives alone with his mother and younger brother), will decide to defend him for free.
From fear to trust
Mark, at first suspicious, will gradually trust the lawyer. She will take under her wing this child confronted, in spite of himself, with a judicial universe of which he knows nothing. Brad Renfro, who plays the young Mark Sway, exudes a dazzling naturalness. It portrays a courageous child, who has already gone through hardships and knows how to face adults. Insolent, clever, stubborn, he will do everything to protect his family and get out of this impasse.
The film was released in 1994. The script is well mastered and offers us a glimpse of the American justice system: a harsh system, which has little leniency for minors, even innocent ones. The difficulties faced by poor backgrounds are also highlighted. The single mother earns too little to pay for health insurance and will be referred to a charity hospital, where her youngest son, a victim of post-traumatic shock, will be kept under observation. And if the child can defend himself, it is thanks to the generosity of the lawyer, who accompanies him in his defense for the symbolic sum of one dollar.
A powerful scenario
The director doesn't overdo it. We believe in the story and the suspense is perfectly conducted and rises in crescendo. One can't help but become attached to young Mark and admire his relentlessness and courage. He does not forget to sprinkle the film with a few hints of humor, which lighten the heavier moments.
Mafiosi too clichéd
The mafiosi of the story are somewhat overplayed and end up appearing as real clichés in the eyes of the viewer. Perhaps a bad choice of the director, which taints the film a little, but this lack of acting is largely compensated by the very beautiful presence on the screen of Susan Sarandon, the lawyer and Brad Renfro, his young client.
The plot is perfectly conducted and the viewer is kept in suspense until the end. A moving ending, a little too "easy", perhaps, but convincing and well brought.And even if the setting has aged a little, the film has not lost its flavor and deserves to be seen in 2018.
