IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: language, thematic elements

Rated:

Putting terrorists on trial. It's been a popular pastime ever since the success of the Nuremberg trials, in which Nazis were found guilty of war crimes. In the Hands of the Enemy is an interesting if sometimes biased look at the defense of a known foreign assassin and enemy of the United States. It's also the role that undoubtedly landed Sam Waterston his longstanding role as a prosecutor in the successful Law & Order franchise. 

America has come into possession of a known terrorist who ordered the murder of American citizens overseas. Numerous people were killed and more injured in a brutal attack on a bus of tourists, guided by the word of Salim Ajami (Robert Davi), a self-professed warrior of the Palestinian people and gun-for-hire. Desirous of giving the appearance of an above-board trial, the US government appeals to the best defense attorney the system has to offer to represent him. Simon Resnick (Ron Leibman) is content to teach defense law at an esteemed school, and has no interest in representing a glorified hit man in the national press. Pressure from his peers and his students finally guarantees agreement, and he knows that he's about to face down the most formidable prosecutor of his time.

Jim Delmore (Sam Waterston) knows it's not about to be a difficult trial, but isn't about to underestimate his adversary. Ajami's political agenda makes him a difficult client, one not even his own attorney particularly likes, and the climate throughout the world grows increasingly more hostile as the trial progresses beneath the eye of Judge Bonner (Jo Henderson), who has no intention of being reversed on appeal and thus gives a great deal of latitude to the defense's case. The film has gumption enough to stand on its own two feet, painting a brutal image of assassins for hire and political activists, but is hardly strong in its nuances. It just doesn't feel carefully researched, and to be perfectly honest, after a long build-up of rooting for the prosecution on television, I wasn't all that enthusiastic about or interested in the defense's case -- which is the meat of the film. We spend most of our time listening to their strategies and approaches, with only occasional forays into the prosecutor's office.

The defendant is an abominable, scheming, racist anti-American terrorist and we want to see him go down for it, not listen to the defense attempt to justify his behavior by painting it as the actions of a soldier in a holy war. I respect defense attorneys in the knowledge that sometimes their defendants are innocent, and someone has to represent them at trial, but when it comes to cases of this nature I have a natural bias. You will learn some interesting things about the law from inside a defense attorney's classroom, but the bias and political ambitions of the court judge become tiring. There is very little content to speak of, consisting of a half dozen profanities (including one GD) and some violence. A graphic act of terrorism is described. Terrorists break into a hotel and kidnap an American journalist, dragging him at knife-point into a basement, before releasing a statement that if Ajami is convicted, they intend to hold their own trial and execute him.

A daring little movie, the film does bring awareness to the political climate overseas, international hatred of the United States among Muslim-dominated countries, and the fact that so called "holy wars" are made up primarily of racists determined to bring down Christian and Jewish-dominated societies. In that sense the film has value. There's nothing wrong with the production, it just seems a little anti-climatic. It is, however, the chance for L&O fans to see Waterston in a role that predates McCoy. His Delmore is certainly more ethical, a little less passionate, but just as determined. It's not difficult to see what later casting directors saw in him, a vast potential to become the television face of American justice.