magnuslhad Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell are outstanding in this true tale of a sister who puts herself through Law School to overturn the wrongful conviction of her brother. The acting is superb, but it is aided by excellent pacing that is a masterclass in editing. Children grow up, marriages fail, but all these episodes are relayed matter-of-fact, reminding us of the focus and determination of the female lead. Nothing will deter her from her task, and nothing is as important. At one moment one of her sons implies she has wasted her life on a futile task. She is flabbergasted by the comment - it has not occurred to her that her mission could be interpreted this way. When she does get close to revealing the truth, the ugliness of the human actions that created her brother's hell are incredibly difficult to take. Human corruption knows no depth, but then the heights of human determination are also on display here. An incredible story, done justice by a superb production.

Theo Robertson This should have been an impacting human drama about injustice . Based on a true story about a man Kenny convicted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for murder it revolves around the man's sister , a lower working class girl called Betty Anne working as a waitress who convinced of Kenny's innocence goes to law school in order prove he did not commit the crime , This is inspiring stuff on paper , a real life David versus Goliath and since it stars Hilary Swank a women who herself is an example of a real life fairytale this should in theory be a great film . However it never really takes offOne thinks much of the problem may lie in the screenplay by Pamela Gray . I'm probably going to receive some stick here but I went in to the film with a very open mind and for periods felt I was watching some chick flick on the Hallmark channel . The screenplay lacks a narrative drive . . I expected plot turn after plot turn of Betty Anne building up hope for Kenny only to have these hopes dashed after one obstacle after the other gets in the way . This isn't really the case the screenplay meanders to a large extent in order to build up that there's a very strong family bond between Betty Anne and her brother . This is unnecessary and holds the story up to a degree . I for one would have preferred it if the story concentrated on an innocent man knowing he is innocent finding himself facing the rest of his life in a hellhole prison but the story is told through the eyes of Betty Anne . This is understandable but there's not much brevity to the storytelling and the film never reaches its full potential despite the best efforts of the cast

Claudio Carvalho In Ayer, Massachusetts, the siblings Betty Anne and Kenneth 'Kenny' Waters are very close to each other and they are neglected by their single mother and prostitute Elizabeth Waters (Karen Young).In their come of age, Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is a troublemaker with a baby daughter hated by the local police department and Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) gets married and has two sons. When their neighbor is stabbed to death, the police officer Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo) that has hatred for Kenny, arrests him and he is sent to court for trial.Kenny and Betty Anne can not afford to hire a lawyer and Kenny is defended by a public defender. He is sentenced to life without probation, based on the evidence of his blood type and the testimony of his girlfriends Brenda Marsh (Clea DuVall) and Roseanna Perry (Juliette Lewis).When Kenny tries to commit suicide in prison, his sister tells him that she will complete her elementary school and high-school to go to law school to reopen his case and overturn his sentence."Conviction" is the best courtroom drama of the Twentieth-First Century. The inspiring story of a waitress that decides to study to become a lawyer to defend her beloved and innocent brother that was sentenced to life without probation and release him after twenty years is one of the most beautiful examples of dedication, determination, devotion and fraternal love.The top-notch performances of Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Juliette Lewis deserved nomination to the Oscar. The tragic and ironic fate of Kenny six months after his freedom is not mentioned in the film that stops the journey of the Waters family in the best moments of their lives. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "A Condenação" ("The Conviction")

chrisbender In 1983, Kenny is convicted of the bloody murder of an elderly neighbor largely on the basis of testimony from two former girlfriends, both of whom claimed he confessed his actions to them. Neither Kenny nor Betty Anne can afford a good attorney, so she decides to become a lawyer even though she's a high school dropout. Also serving as one of the film's executive producers, Swank come back securely to the against-all-odds territory of Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) by following Betty Ann's sixteen-year journey from her GED through college, then law school, and finally passing the bar – all while she was raising two boys and working part-time at a local pub. The ending is predictable from a mile away, but the journey is not. The introduction of DNA evidence provides a linchpin that spins the story close to Lifetime-level dramatics, especially when Betty Ann solicits the assistance of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to overturning wrongful convictions. Gray's screenplay is solid enough, and Goldwyn's direction is assured within the back-and-forth treatment of the timeline.However, it's really the acting that is aces here. Beyond Swank's sterling work, Sam Rockwell brings an unpredictable furor and a surprising vulnerability to the showier role of Kenny. His rapport with Swank never feels forced, and the devotion of their sibling relationship is what really grounds the threat of hysterics in the film. The periphery is populated by a powerful squad of actresses turning in sharply etched work - Minnie Driver as Betty Ann's law-school friend Abra, whose comic spark highlights how pivotal her character is in representing the audience viewpoint; Melissa Leo ("Frozen River") as the malevolent arresting cop, whose secretive hostility provides the impetus for Kenny's conviction; Juliette Lewis as Kenny's dentally-challenged ex-girlfriend with a drunken confession scene that reveals the actress's long-forgotten raw talent below her usual giddiness; Karen Young in a brief scene as the unforgivable Mrs. Waters; and Ari Graynor ("Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist") as Kenny's embittered grown daughter. It's the cast's cumulative work that makes this movie intensely watchable.