Miranda's Victim on Hulu

[silverscreenselect]

I saw this fascinating movie on Hulu over the weekend. It played the festival circuit last year but didn't get much, if any, of a theatrical release. The Miranda in the title is Ernesto Miranda, the subject of the famous Supreme Court case giving rise to the well-known Miranda warnings criminal suspects must be given (You have the right to remain silent, etc.) Miranda was convicted of rape and kidnapping, but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction because he wasn't allowed to talk to a lawyer during the interrogation before signing a confession.

The movie looks at the entire case from the rape itself to Miranda's second trial. The focus is primarily on the victim, played by Abigail Breslin, who was only 18 when the rape occurred. Her identity remained a secret for over 50 years until she finally came forward about five years ago to tell her story. The film looks at attitudes towards rape accusations at the time, which explained why other potential victims never came forward. It also looks at the police investigation, which was pretty thorough considering the technology available at the time. And it recreates both trials, including the difficulty the prosecution had the second time to get a conviction without Miranda's confession. The film has a very good cast, including Donald Sutherland as the judge at the second trial, and Luke Wilson, Ryan Philippe, and Andy Garcia as attorneys involved in the case.