Freedomland (2006)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Freedomland" is about an inner city police detective named Lorenzo Council, played by Samuel L. Jackson (The Man), who is assigned to investigate a woman, played by Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights), who claims an African-American male from Council's jurisdiction assaulted her and took her car which had her four year old son inside. WARNING: THE REST OF THIS REVIEW ADDRESSES THE FILM'S SECRETS. SKIP TO THE LAST COUPLE PARAGRAPHS. This movie was originally billed as being based on a true story, but upon its release, that marketing buzz phrase has been wiped from it and rightly so. There was a similar case of a woman who drowned her two kids in her car, then told the police an African American male did it, causing racial tension between investigators and nearby low income neighborhoods. From the trailer, I thought this movie would save the fact that the woman killed her kid as an end of movie twist, but the possibility of her being a guilty party becomes a BIG part of the story early on. Julianne Moore was exceptional, but the material she was faced with is extremely difficult to believe. I believe a mother can be as negligent as she was, but I do not believe a four year old will deliberately overdose on cough syrup to spite her. The worst part of the movie is the fact that it's so anti-climactic. The story is Council's story, but Council as a character has no room to learn or grow. Council is a good mannered, caring man and detective and he remains that way until the end, so what was he to learn from this ordeal? Nothing. He was already a good person and good cop. I felt the picture lacked inner conflict. Overall, "Freedomland" was very blah. This picture gets a big yawn from me with a couple impressive moments from Moore. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This is one of those movies where there are moments of decent cinema, but in the end, it's ends up being pointless.