Not a Movie Review
by Gurpriya Seth
PRIMAL FEAR
by Gregory Hoblit
Primal Fear is a 1996 American legal thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit, based on William Diehl's 1993 novel of the same name. It stars Richard Gere as a Chicago defense attorney who believes that his altar boy client (played by Edward Norton) is not guilty of murdering an influential Catholic archbishop.
CHARACTERS
Aaron Stampler
The 19-year-old altar boy for Richard Rushman & the main suspect in Richard's murder case.
Janet Venable
The prosecutor on Rushman's
murder case determined to prove that the alter boy is guilty.
Shaughnessy
The powerful state attorney who wants the altar boy to be convicted & sentenced to the death penalty.
The defense lawyer that takes up Aaron's case pro-bono & is determined to prove him innocent.
Martin Vail
Martin's investigator that does the fieldwork required to get information about people on the cases.
Tommy Goodman
The Judge assigned to Rushman's murder case.
Miriam Shoat
Richard Rushman
The popular Archbishop of Chicago who is murdered at the beginning of the movie.
Naomi Chance
Martin's junior advocate who assists Martin in working cases.
Dr. Molly Arrington
The doctor who conducts psychoanalysis on Aaron on being asked by Martin.
TIMELINE
00:00:00
"Yes. Yes, it was."
00:22:00
Aaron has been arrested under the charges of the murder of Richard Rushman. Martin is asking Aaron questions about where he is from, how long he has known the archbishop, etc.
Aaron shares that Aaron stayed at the archbishop's savior house and even though kids are supposed to move out after turning 18, Rushman let Aaron stay way past Aaron's 19th birthday.
"That was nice of him." - Martin
"Yes. Yes, it was." - Aaron
Prediction #1
The way Aaron said the words "Yes, yes, it was" made me feel that there was something off about Aaron staying longer at the savior house than the norm. And because Aaron said, Rushman made Aaron stay longer, my first thought was that Rushman had been ill-treating the altar boys. More specifically, I thought Rushman would end up being a pedophile.
"I want to talk more about your girlfriend Linda now"
01:02:00
While the hearings for Rushman's murder case have just begun, Aaron has shared with Martin that Aaron often "loses time" which means Aaron blacks outs at random occasions and this has been happening since Aaron was a child. and that is what, according to Aaron, happened when Rushman was being murdered which is why Aaron does not remember anything.
Martin asks a doctor, Dr.Molly, to analyze Aaron's mental state. Dr.Molly has started conducting the interviews with Aaron and these chats between Dr.Molly and Aaron are recorded for Martin to view. Before one of these chats, Martin's employee, Tommy, discovers that Aaron has a girlfriend named, Linda.
Using this information Dr.Molly tries to talk to Aaron
about Aaron's relationship with Linda
"I want to talk more about your girlfriend Linda now. Can we?"
- Dr. Molly
*camera beeps*
"No."- Aaron
Prediction #2
As soon as Dr.Molly asked Aaron about Linda, Aaron tensed up and refused to want to talk about it. In the middle, the camera recording the chat between Dr. Molly and Aarons's beeps indicating low battery. That beeping sound from the camera triggers a very weird change in Aaron's facial expression.
Even though the change was very subtle, it caught my attention. Aaron further goes on to say that Aaron does not want to talk about Linda and that Aaron's head hurts. That's when it hit me
"maybe he has multiple personality disorder". Maybe when Aaron says Aaron "loses time" and blacks out that's when Aaron's other personality comes to the surface.
"Aaron is innocent."
01:25:00
By now, it is revealed that Rushman was making the kids at the savior house engage in sexual acts and recording it for his pleasure and that Aaron suffers from multiple personality disorder. Even though Martin knows it was not Aaron, but Roy (Aaron's alias), who committed the murder, Martin cannot change Aaron's plea using insanity because Martin already pleaded not guilty on behalf of Aaron in court and the judge will not allow the change in plea. Martin is now talking to colleagues about how Martin can spin the story in court.
"Aaron is innocent. It's Roy who is guilty." - Martin
Prediction #3
This scene made me pause the movie and think about how Martin could get Aaron out of this situation. Martin already mentioned that the judge would not allow a change in a plea at this stage and that is probably because the judge would think that Martin is changing the plea because Martin is losing the case. The judge would think Martin was making up a story about Aaron having a mental disorder. But what if the judge witnessed it first hand? What if Roy comes out when Aaron is in court. Seeing that, the judge would have to agree to consider Aaron's mental health condition.
"I would kill him."
01:53:00
In this scene, the prosecutor, Janet Venable, is cross-questioning Aaron in court after Martin called Aaron to the witness box.
Janet continuously asks Aaron about the sex tape Rushman forced the savior house kids to perform in, including Aaron and Aaron's girlfriend, Linda. And Janet does this
cross-questioning in a very aggressive manner.
"You know what I would do if someone did that to me?
I would kill him. I wouldn't hesitate."
- Janet
Prediction #4
The way Janet was cross-questioning Aaron made me think Janet was doing it intentionally. Janet was using all the words that would trigger Aaron and make him change into Roy. Janet repeatedly took Linda's name and spoke to Aaron in an aggressive way to scare Aaron. I think Janet did it because Janet wanted Roy to come out, that Janet was helping Martin get Aaron out of this situation.
Why I think that is because Janet anyway was going to lose Janet's job but now, Janet gets to help Martin and Aaron and possibly go back to working with Martin.
The Ending
Predictions that turned out right:
1. Archbishop Richard Rushman was ill-treating the kids at the savior home.
2. Aaron did was suffer from multiple personality disorder.
3. Martin did plan things so that Roy would come out in court to make the judge would witness it.
Predictions that turned out wrong:
1. Janet did not know her attack on Aaron would force Roy to come out in court.
What I did not predict:
1. Aaron was faking his disorder to manipulate his lawyer, the doctor, the jury, and the court.
2. Aaron did kill Rushman and he remembered killing him.
3. Aaron also killed Linda.
"So there never was a Roy" - Martin
"Marty, there never was an Aaron" - Roy
References
Lucchesi, G. (Producer) & Hoblit, G. (Director). (1996). Primal Fear [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/browse