FRACTURE - A LAWYER FINDS HIS TRUE CHARACTER

Fracture is a 2007 film directed by Gregory Hoblit.  The film stars Anthony Hopkins as Ted Crawford, a wealthy engineer who has recently discovered that his wife is having an affair.  He confronts his wife about the affair and she admits it.  He then shoots her and fires several shots through the window.  Police arrive and surround the house.  His wife is taken to the hospital and is placed on life support.  Crawford is charged with attempted murder.  Ryan Gosling plays Willy Beachum, the prosecutor assigned to the case.  Willy is leaving his job in one week because he accepted a position at a large law firm.  Crawford asserts his right to a speedy trial.  Crawford intends to represent himself.  His fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and he has given both verbal and written confessions.  To Willy, the case appears open and shut, something he can finish before leaving for his new job.  Unfortunately for Willy, nothing is as it appears, and the case is anything but simple.

Anthony Hopkins’ Crawford bears a striking resemblance to his portrayal  of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.  I thought casting Hopkins as Crawford was particularly clever because the audience already expects him to be cold and calculating, and several steps ahead of everyone else.  You begin to understand that Crawford has deliberately created a situation in which his case appears simple to prosecute.  He learns that Willy is starting a new job soon and knows that the young prosecutor will be distracted.  Crawford then asserts his right to a speedy trial to bait Willy into entering a trap.  Had another actor been cast in the role, the audience might not have sensed quite as quickly that Crawford is laying a trap for Willy.  The script allows Hopkins to bring some of Lecter’s cold intelligence and menace to Crawford, creating tension almost immediately.  

Ryan Gosling’s Willy Beachum is a young lawyer struggling not simply with his career, but with the kind of person he wants to become.  Willy is struggling to determine where the moral line lies – and whether he is willing to cross it to advance his career.  Early in the film, we learn that Willy agreed to throw a trial in exchange for a job interview with a prestigious law firm.  But when the opposing attorney arrives unprepared, Willy abandons the deal and crushes him in court.  The performance impresses the head of the firm enough to hire Willy and fire the other attorney.  Later, Willy has an opportunity to save his case through planted evidence and secure Crawford’s conviction, but he refuses.  Willy also struggles to fit into the world of his new job.  His new boss even tells him that he will need to use a middle initial because everyone else at the firm does.  Willy sees no reason for it other than fitting in with the other lawyers.  Willy also discovers that accepting the new job means answering to his new boss – even when her demands conflict with his  responsibilities as a prosecutor.  Despite his arrogance about his 97 percent conviction rate, Willy is increasingly uncomfortable trying to inhabit both worlds at once: his old life as a prosecutor and his new life at the prestigious firm.  His arrogance eventually leads him to underestimate Crawford and take the case less seriously than he should.  Crawford has sprung his trap.

A line spoken by Hal Holbrook’s character in Wall Street captures Willy’s journey perfectly.  “Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.”  That line captures the transformation Willy undergoes in Fracture.  As the story unfolds, Willy begins to understand what actually matters to him.  Willy is no longer torn between two worlds represented by the wealthy law firm and his role as the public servant.  Once Willy understands who he is – and what kind of lawyer he wants to be – he finally understands how to defeat Crawford.

TF’s Notes – Fracture does take some liberties with the law.  First, a speedy trial is not as speedy as one may think.  The prosecutor still gets time to assemble their case.  The idea that Willy would only have a couple of days to prepare for a murder case is highly unrealistic.  In reality, speedy trial rules vary by jurisdiction, and invoking the right does not ordinarily mean that a major felony trial begins within a matter of days. It takes time to get all the information from the police to the prosecutor.  The idea of adequately defending a murder case on only a few days’ notice is equally unrealistic.  A competent defense attorney will interview witnesses, investigate the evidence, and consider retaining experts.  The process takes time.

Second, the film raises an interesting double-jeopardy question when Crawford is prosecuted for attempted murder before his wife dies. The movie suggests that her later death creates the possibility of a subsequent murder prosecution. That issue is more complicated than the film makes it appear, because whether a later prosecution is permitted can depend on when the victim dies, what offense was previously prosecuted, and the law of the particular jurisdiction.

Fracture works because the courtroom battle is really secondary to the battle taking place inside Willy Beachum. Crawford believes he understands Willy because he sees an arrogant young lawyer willing to trade principles for success. What he fails to anticipate is that Willy will eventually discover those principles. Fracture may bend the law, but as a battle between two intelligent men trying to outmaneuver each other, it remains a thoroughly entertaining legal thriller.