In November 1976, itinerant Randall Adams was passing through the Dallas area seeking out employment when he came in contact with a 16-year old delinquent named David Ray Harris. Soon, he found himself accused, interrogated, tried, convicted, and sitting on death row for the murder of a Dallas police officer. Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line is an in-depth investigatory documentary made with Adams and Harris' behind bars participation (Harris was locked up for another crime) and which ultimately earned an appeals case that exonerated the former and conferred the death charge upon the latter. Morris' film, whose frightening implications are made all the more eerie through Philip Glass' ominous score, uses one case to explore the cracks in our legal system and how reasonable doubt can become distorted, and also demonstrates the importance of art as an impetus of change.
*** 1/2 out of ****
*** 1/2 out of ****
