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The Trials of Darryl Hunt

The Trials of Darryl Hunt (2007)

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No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

audience

73

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

Oct 16, 2007

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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.

July 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Powerful and unsettling.

January 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A disturbing bio-pic chronicling a mammoth miscarriage of justice which can only be explained as resulting from deep-seated racism.

October 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Mount Desert Islander
Mount Desert Islander

... a complicated tale that exposes how a credible case can be built upon perjuries and fabrications.

July 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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.

June 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine

The uplift here is honestly earned, because it is so beautifully contrasted with harrowing venality and willful ignorance.

June 1, 2007
Reel.com

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.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: PopMatters
PopMatters

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.

May 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Black Star News
Black Star News

[A] rarity in these sorry days of the dying art of genuine journalism: a sensational story told without sensationalism...

April 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher
Flick Filosopher

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.

February 4, 2006 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

Audience Reviews for The Trials of Darryl Hunt

As the title quite clearly specifies, the movie is about the trials of Darryl Hunt. The movie focuses on the proceedings of the case since Darryl's arrest till his exoneration. What I found favorable was:
- 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.
September 11, 2012
imrealgod

Super Reviewer

Very moving, powerful film; tells this emotionally charged story in an engaging way. There were definitely some points that left me a bit confused; it felt a little rushed towards the end. But this story needs to be told, and this film's the one to tell it.
January 5, 2011
allefra25
Allegra F
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