The Trials of Darryl Hunt (2007)
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 10
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 2,162
My Rating
Movie Info
In 1984, Deborah Sykes, a copy editor at a newspaper in Winston-Salem, NC, was on her way to work when she was attacked by a man who raped and killed her. Three men were identified by the police as likely suspects -- Sammy Mitchell, Johnny Gray, and Darryl Hunt -- but it didn't take long for investigators to single out Hunt as the man who committed the brutal crime. Coverage of the case in the Winston-Salem Sentinel, the paper Sykes worked for, fueled public outrage and many called for swift
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All Critics (10) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (0) | DVD (3)
Throughout the film, Hunt emerges as a likable man with a deep religious faith and an astonishing ability to reject anger and bitterness.
Top CriticPowerful and unsettling.
A disturbing bio-pic chronicling a mammoth miscarriage of justice which can only be explained as resulting from deep-seated racism.
... a complicated tale that exposes how a credible case can be built upon perjuries and fabrications.
A scathing indictment of a system in disarray and provides a heartfelt portrait of the resilience of the human spirit, struggling in the face of injustice and genuinely overwhelming odds.
The uplift here is honestly earned, because it is so beautifully contrasted with harrowing venality and willful ignorance.
As the film shows in harrowing detail, the first trial featured an incredible array of errors (intentional or not) by the investigation and prosecution teams.
A disturbing bio-pic chronicling a mammoth miscarriage of justice which can only be explained as resulting from deep-seated racism. Despite its feelgood resolution, the film offers little in the way of reassurances that this will never happen again.
[A] rarity in these sorry days of the dying art of genuine journalism: a sensational story told without sensationalism...
I don't want to give to much away in terms of this film because it really is fascinating, but I will say that the film helps crystalize major flaws in our legal system.
Audience Reviews for The Trials of Darryl Hunt
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- It was not all things Darryl Hunt, just telling his life story unnecessarily dragging it to his childhood memories.
- That it didn't pan the police & legal system heavily (regardless of it being due at times).
- That it put the story of around 20 years in a nutshell effectively enough.
The unfavorable elements may be:
- At times, though not often, it tends to get repetitive.
- While it sums up the case in around 2 hours appropriately, it doesn't give a wholesome picture of the case. It rushes on with the real culprit's part. As if it were going to turn the movie about him than Darryl Hunt. It's given incredibly less footage.
The film fares well enough to depict majority of the case. It works in bits & parts more than less, but isn't equally effective on the whole.
As for Darryl Hunt himself, it's probably yet another case of miscarriage of justice. But I couldn't help wondering if he'd have been serving time for some other crime had he not been in prison for Sykes' murder. Of course, it's not fair to judge one on the basis of their colleagues/group. One can't help much when instincts come up with some hypothetical scenario, though. Having said what I needed to, I finally realize that this is not an appropriate place for such discussions, and that I should better limit my comments related to the movie in question.