DVD Review: Freedomland

By Jeff Swindoll May 23, 2006, 14:39 GMT

Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Price. A tale set on the same turf--Dempsey, New Jersey--as Clockers. Assigned to investigate the case of Brenda Martin\'s missing child is detective Lorenzo Council, a local son of the very housing project targeted as the scene of the crime. Under a white-hot media glare, Lorenzo launches an all-out search for the abducted boy, even as he quietly explores a different ...more

Freedomland stars Samuel L. Jackson as a tough cop and Julianne Moore as a grieving ex-crack addict mother.  One of them is miscast, can you guess which one?

Richard Price, author of Clockers (later made into a movie by Spike Lee), adapts his novel Freedomland to the big screen.  I should give you a bit of the geography of the film.  Gannon and Dempsey are two New Jersey districts.  The Armstrong Projects lie on the border between these two districts and is full of poor black families. 

Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) wanders into a emergency room and both of her hands are gashed and bleeding.  She tells the ER staff that she’s the victim of a carjacking.  She says that a black man took her car.  The crime is committed in Dempsey so tough detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) is called in on the case.  He and his partner Boyle (William Forsythe) are in the projects trying to get Rafik (Fly Williams III) to go with them on a warrant so he won’t get picked up by the less sympathetic Gannon police.  Council is respected and popular in the Armstrong Projects. 

When Council gets the call to respond to the ER, the Gannon police show up, but they are after another suspect.  He gets to the ER and still thinks that this is just a routine carjacking.  Brenda is behaving strangely and Council finally finds out that this carjacking is different since Brenda’s four year old son is in the backseat of the car.

Other troubles come to light when Council finds out that Brenda’s brother Danny (Ron Eldard) is a detective on the Gannon police force.  Danny is brought to the ER, but instead of comforting his sister, he has words with her, and leaves with his crew. 

Unfortunately, this leads to the Armstrong Projects being put into lockdown by the Gannon police and nobody can leave the projects.  This makes a bad situation even worse since the occupants are aware that if a black Armstrong child was in the same situation that such a huge police presence would not be present.  As the hours roll on, Council begins to doubt Brenda’s story.

Council arrives at the ER and sees Brenda's bloody handprint

Council concocts a plan to find out the truth using Karen Collucci’s (Edie Falco) child search group and a search of Freedomland - being the foundling’s home that has been abandoned since the 1950s.  Will Council’s plan find out the truth of what happened the night of the carjacking work, will the child be found, and can Council keep Armstrong from exploding from racial tension?

I’ll have to admit that I’m not familiar with the book and in looking over the description at Amazon discover that the character of a reporter is not in the movie.  I guess Price knows best since he also wrote the screenplay and the book.

Samuel L. Jackson has played the tough guy before and knows the role well.  All of the other parts are well cast, but the problem that I have is with Julianne Moore.  She’s a capable actress, but I can’t help but think that the part would’ve benefited from a less glamorous or unknown actress.  She’s been made to look somewhat homely, but for an ex-crack addict she has some of the whitest, straightest teeth I’ve ever seen. 

I’m also not sure what I was supposed to feel for the character since her performance didn’t make me feel sympathy.  Though I haven’t read the book, but I think that the character was supposed to be sympathetic.  She plays it with some mannerisms that I found annoying instead of sympathetic. 

Freedomland is presented both in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) and fullscreen (1.33:1), when you hit the play button you’re given the choice of which one you want to watch the movie in.  There are no special features.  There are ten trailers for other movies or DVDs, however Freedomland is not one of them.  I consider this advertisement and not count them as special features. I am always disappointed when they decide not to include the trailer for the movie I’m watching. 

Freedomland’s trailer was interesting in that it stressed the abandoned foundling’s home and almost looked like a horror movie about it (at least that’s how I remember it).  The place is still in the movie, pretty spooky, and is used to reveal a plot point.  However, it’s not as prominent as the title and trailer would make you believe.

Moore is a capable actress, but miscast in the film

I found Freedomland an average thriller, but again thought that Moore was miscast.  It was also pretty predictable.  [spoiler] Consider the infamous news story and outcome of a similar carjacking by an anonymous black man and you pretty much know that Brenda’s story is not right [end spoiler].  I wonder if the book was any better.

Freedomland is available for pre-order at Amazon for a May 30th release. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.