Based on true events in the midst of the
2000 election, AMERICAN VIOLET tells the astonishing story
of Dee Roberts (critically hailed newcomer Nicole Beharie),
a 24 year-old African American single mother of four young
girls living in a small Texas town who is barely making ends
meet on a waitress’ salary and government subsidies.
On an early November morning while Dee works a shift at the
local diner, the powerful local district attorney (Academy
Award® nominee Michael O’Keefe) leads an extensive drug
bust, sweeping her Arlington Springs housing project with
military precision. Police drag Dee from work in handcuffs,
dumping her in the squalor of 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 (Academy Award® nominee
Alfre Woodard), and with her freedom and the custody of her
children at stake, she chooses to fight the district
attorney and the unyielding criminal justice system he
represents. Joined in an unlikely alliance with an ACLU
attorney (Tim Blake Nelson) and former local
narcotics officer (Will Patton), Dee risks everything in a
battle that forever changes her life and the Texas justice
system. AMERICAN VIOLET also stars Emmy Award® winner
Charles S. Dutton and Xzibit.© Samuel Goldwyn Films. All
rights reserved
MORE MOVIE REVIEWS
>>>
Submit Your Movie Review
