In Brief: Until Proven Innocent (2016) Dallas International Film Festival 2016

Hannah Overton was the foster mother of Andrew Burd. She was arrested and charged with killing Andrew with an overdose of salt and spices. She was doubly guilty the prosecution said because she did not get him care and let him die. The trouble was Overton was viewed by pretty much everyone as a saintly mother as a near saint, and worse the the alleged facts didn't add up.

Good, if very overlong look at a case where justice went away. The cracks in the case became clear to the reporters covering the case who found that very little the prosecution was saying seemed to be the case. Worse they seemed to be ignoring or hiding facts that would prove innocence- for example Overton didn't watch Andrew die, rather she took him to a walk in clinic instead of the hospital.

I remember hearing about this case when the original arrests happened but I never followed it. I certainly was completely unaware of the move to get Overton out of prison.  I went into the film largely blind and came out largely pissed off.

Structured in such away as to be the story of a reporter experienced in covering cases of miscarriage of justice,  UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT takes us int to the case from the point of view coming into things after the fact. We see the case unfold as her research did.

This is a very good film that nicely lays out everyone and every thing connected to the case. Its film that clearly explains why and how it all went down.It is for the most part a compelling tale.

The only problem with the film is that the film is so slackly paced that interest begins to wane in the second hour imply because it is taking almost too much time to tell us its story. Its not fatal but it makes an ecellent film a really good one instead.