American Violet
Encyclopedia
American Violet is a 2009 drama
directed by Tim Disney and starring Nicole Beharie
. The story is based on Regina Kelly, a victim of Texas
police drug enforcement tactics.
, American Violet tells the story of Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie
), a 24 year-old African-American single mother of four, living in a small Texas town (based after Hearne, Texas
where the real incident took place). One day, while Dee is working a shift at the local diner, the powerful local district attorney
(Michael O'Keefe
) leads a drug bust, sweeping Dee’s housing project. Police drag Dee from work in handcuffs, dumping her in the women’s county prison. Indicted based on the uncorroborated word of a single and dubious police informant facing his own drug charges, Dee soon discovers she has been charged as a drug dealer.
Even though Dee has no prior drug record and no drugs were found on her in the raid or any subsequent searches, she is offered a hellish choice: plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison and fight the charges thus, jeopardizing her custody and risking a long prison sentence. Despite the urgings of her mother (Alfre Woodard
), and with her freedom and the custody of her children at stake, she chooses to fight the district attorney. Dee works with an ACLU attorney (Tim Blake Nelson
) and a former local narcotics officer (Will Patton
) to take on the Texas justice system.
who were indicted in November 2000 on drug charges after being rounded up in a series of drug sweeps the ACLU referred to as "paramilitary
". The lawsuit accused Paschall and the South Central Texas Narcotics Task Force of conducting racially motivated
drug sweeps for more than 15 years in Hearne. In 2005, the ACLU and Robertson County settled and the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the individuals named in the suit, including Paschall. The fictional Harmon County represents Robertson County, Texas, where John Paschall continues to serve as District Attorney. Regina Kelly continued to live in Hearne, Texas
until 2009.
.
Dr. Joy Browne of WOR Radio reviewed the film, calling it "A gem of a movie. Timely, thought provoking, passionate, exciting. Everything you look for in a movie experience and more."
Rex Reed of The New York Observer said that the film is "a rich, vibrant narrative film guaranteed to move everyone who sees it". Roger Ebert
gave the film three stars and commented that "Nicole Beharie delivers a stunning performance."
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Tim Disney and starring Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie is an American actress, born in West Palm Beach Florida on January 3, 1985.-Early life:She graduated from South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, where she received a scholarship...
. The story is based on Regina Kelly, a victim of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
police drug enforcement tactics.
Plot
Set in the midst of the 2000 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, American Violet tells the story of Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie is an American actress, born in West Palm Beach Florida on January 3, 1985.-Early life:She graduated from South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, where she received a scholarship...
), a 24 year-old African-American single mother of four, living in a small Texas town (based after Hearne, Texas
Hearne, Texas
Hearne is a city in Robertson County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,690 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area...
where the real incident took place). One day, while Dee is working a shift at the local diner, the powerful local district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
(Michael O'Keefe
Michael O'Keefe
Michael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
) leads a drug bust, sweeping Dee’s housing project. Police drag Dee from work in handcuffs, dumping her in the women’s county prison. Indicted based on the uncorroborated word of a single and dubious police informant facing his own drug charges, Dee soon discovers she has been charged as a drug dealer.
Even though Dee has no prior drug record and no drugs were found on her in the raid or any subsequent searches, she is offered a hellish choice: plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison and fight the charges thus, jeopardizing her custody and risking a long prison sentence. Despite the urgings of her mother (Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
), and with her freedom and the custody of her children at stake, she chooses to fight the district attorney. Dee works with an ACLU attorney (Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
) and a former local narcotics officer (Will Patton
Will Patton
William Rankin "Will" Patton is an American actor.-Life and career:Patton was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the eldest of three children. His father is Bill Patton, a playwright and acting/directing instructor who was a Lutheran minister and served as a chaplain at Duke University...
) to take on the Texas justice system.
Historical basis
The film is based on the civil rights lawsuit Regina Kelly v. John Paschall, filed on behalf of 15 African-American residents of Hearne, TexasHearne, Texas
Hearne is a city in Robertson County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,690 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area...
who were indicted in November 2000 on drug charges after being rounded up in a series of drug sweeps the ACLU referred to as "paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
". The lawsuit accused Paschall and the South Central Texas Narcotics Task Force of conducting racially motivated
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
drug sweeps for more than 15 years in Hearne. In 2005, the ACLU and Robertson County settled and the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the individuals named in the suit, including Paschall. The fictional Harmon County represents Robertson County, Texas, where John Paschall continues to serve as District Attorney. Regina Kelly continued to live in Hearne, Texas
Hearne, Texas
Hearne is a city in Robertson County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,690 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area...
until 2009.
Accuracy
The film stays fairly close to the details of the actual case, although it changes all the characters' names and takes some liberties with the case's transcripts, and other dialog. The progress of the case in the film proceeds as the real case did, including the reduction of bail for the defendant, the dropping of charges, and the eventual resolution of the case, although the film makes no mention of the financial portion of the settlement. The case in the film had a single plaintiff, who was actually the lead plaintiff in a case with 14 other plaintiffs. Some of the lawyers objected the way they were portrayed. In the film, the public defender urges the character named Dee Roberts to accept a plea bargain. The actual public defender claims he never tells innocent clients to take a plea. Also, the actual lawyer that represented the District Attorney said the film was "more accurate than not," but objected to how his behavior was portrayed in the film during the deposition of the chief plaintiff. In the film, the character questions the plaintiff about her sexual history. The actual lawyer claims the questions were routine questions about her children and their fathers, and did not delve any further into the subject. And the film shows the DA presiding over a hearing about custody of the defendant's children. Actually, the DA was present and spoke at the hearing, but did not determine custody. The revelation during the film's climax, which led to the resolution of the case, was presented accurately, including the race of the deposing lawyer and the identity of the video witnesses, but the DA did not use the word "uppity" to describe the African American Lawyer that was deposing him. And the actual legal team for the plaintiffs was much larger, consisting of about 25 lawyers, from a private law firm, working pro bonoPro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
.
Cast
- Nicole BeharieNicole BeharieNicole Beharie is an American actress, born in West Palm Beach Florida on January 3, 1985.-Early life:She graduated from South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, where she received a scholarship...
as Dee Roberts - Tim Blake NelsonTim Blake NelsonTim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
as David Cohen - Will PattonWill PattonWilliam Rankin "Will" Patton is an American actor.-Life and career:Patton was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the eldest of three children. His father is Bill Patton, a playwright and acting/directing instructor who was a Lutheran minister and served as a chaplain at Duke University...
as Sam Conroy - Michael O'KeefeMichael O'KeefeMichael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
as Calvin Beckett - XzibitXzibitAlvin Nathaniel Joiner , better known by his stage name Xzibit , is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which brought him mainstream success...
as Darrell Hughes - Malcolm BarrettMalcolm Barrett (actor)Malcolm Barrett is an American actor.He was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. He has appeared as a series regular on Fox's The Sketch Show and Luis....
as Byron Hill - Charles S. DuttonCharles S. DuttonCharles Stanley Dutton is an American stage, film, and television actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his roles as "Fortune" in the film Rudy and "Dillon" in Alien 3...
as Reverend Sanders - Alfre WoodardAlfre WoodardAlfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
as Alma Roberts - Tim WareTim WareTim Ware is a composer and musician, born in Sacramento, California.He came to prominence with the release, in 1980, of on Kaleidoscope Records. , working with a number of other talented San Francisco Bay Area musicians, helped define the emerging genre of New Acoustic Music]...
as Mark Shelby - Paul David Story as David Higgins
- David Warshofksy as Robert Foster
- Lucinda JenneyLucinda Jenney-Career:Jenney began her acting career in 1984 with Hearts and Diamonds. Several roles followed throughout the eighties, appearing in the 1986 comedy The Whoopee Boys, the award-winning Peggy Sue Got Married, with Kathleen Turner and Nicholas Cage. She appeared as 'Iris' in the Oscar-winning film...
as Leona Conroy - Karimah Westbrook as Claudia Johnson
- Paul GuilfoylePaul GuilfoylePaul Guilfoyle is an American television and film actor. He is currently a regular cast member of the forensic television drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation where he plays Captain Jim Brass.-Early life:...
as Judge Belmont - Pamala Tyson as Gladys Williams
- Myra Nakia Christophe as Sherice Roberts
- Za'Mari Breedlove as Sharonda Roberts
- Mya Cherie Christophe as LaQuisha Roberts
- Mariah Marisa Christophe as Tanya Roberts
- Anthony MackieAnthony MackieAnthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
as Eddie Porter
Critical reception
Clay Kane said that American Violet is "the first must-see film for African-Americans in 2009".Dr. Joy Browne of WOR Radio reviewed the film, calling it "A gem of a movie. Timely, thought provoking, passionate, exciting. Everything you look for in a movie experience and more."
Rex Reed of The New York Observer said that the film is "a rich, vibrant narrative film guaranteed to move everyone who sees it". Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film three stars and commented that "Nicole Beharie delivers a stunning performance."