In the Name of the People

This movie was interesting with good performances by the leads, but it does have a few flaws. First, the murdered girl hitchhiked with her killer. You are never given an explanation as to why a sensible girl would do this. Also, the killer's background and motivation is not well presented and the character is not well-developed. The killer and his 13-year old daughter are very close, but he had to have been in prison for at least 10 years. It's not realistic that they could have been that close under these circumstances. Finally, it is unbelievable that the killer and the victim's family would ever consider the idea that the victim's parents should raise the killer's daughter. Yet, even with these problems, it is not a bad movie, just a made-for-TV one.

This movie is about the victims of a pointless murder - the deceased, herself - this being a young girl; her parents; and another young girl - the daughter of the about-to-be-executed murderer. It also introduces a ridiculous sub-plot as to whether the bereaved parents should adopt the 11 year-old, once she becomes fatherless. I suppose that the producers introduced this element, because if they stuck to the point of the film i.e. whether the victims of a crime "forgave" the murderer, it wouldn't matter, since, in this movie, the State planned to execute the murderer, anyway, no matter who forgave, or did not.

If the bereaved parents adopted the now -orphaned (no mother, either) little girl, you see, that would show "forgiveness". Likewise if they pleaded for clemency on behalf of the killer, as the little girl eloquently put it "If he's dead, I have no father...if he's in prison for life, I still have a father".

The film was further muddled by never satisfactorily explaining why the man murdered the girl, or what on earth induced normally sensible her to accept his offer of a ride from a stranger, in the first place

It was all very absorbing, and watchable, and certainly made me think about Society's attitude to the death penalty. Is it justice, or revenge? Or merely a matter of morale - are we diminished more by the victim's death?...or by the killer's eventual execution? And what if we convict the wrong person? (as seems to be happening a lot, lately), but I couldn't help thinking that this far-fetched scenario should be replaced by the one ongoing at time of writing...the two being tried for the Lockerbie Air Explosion...it would be much more valid a debate on the death-penalty; revenge or justice; "forgiveness", and whatever emotions this interesting, but flawed movie tried to manipulate.

This movie once again gives Richard Thomas the opportunity to show the world what a fine actor he has become. He has the ability to portray characters as divided in time as Charles Ingalls and Jack Murphy. As Murphy, we see how one man chooses to regain his life after a heartbreaking loss. The movie does not try to push one idea over another, but allows all viewers the chance to make their own judgments. Very well done! Kudos to all involved.

I must say that I do not quite understand how this family could have a bit of mercy on the man who killed their only daughter. He wanted compassion from them for his daughter, and what the hell does that mean. He made a choice, not giving any reason as to what made him do it, and killed a lovely young girl. I also found his aggression quite disgusting, he took the life of these people's daughter, and he wanted sympathy. What ever. He confessed was found guilty and was sentenced to death. Perhaps he should have thought about his daughter, before he murdered someone else's.

The idea of In the Name of the People is good, a murderer doesn't want his only daughter to end up in an institution and asks the parents of the girl he killed to take care of his daughter. And you could expect of the actors, especially Scott Bakula to do some good acting, unfortunately they don't! In the Name of The People turns out to be the regular Friday night tearjerker. The flashbacks with the girl that was killed are pretty pathetic and at a certain stage you can just predict what the actors will say... If you want to watch a good film about this subject then watch Dean Man Walking!