Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 1: AN UNREAL DREAM: THE MICHAEL MORTON STORY
Al Reinert’s chronicle of a wrongful criminal conviction debuted at SXSW last year, where it picked up an audience award. It also screened at Human Rights Watch, Dallas Videofest, Amnesty International Human Rights fest, and the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, and was broadcast on CNN last December.
In 1987, Austin resident Michael Morton found himself sentenced to life for the murder of his wife, Chris, which took place the day after his birthday, allegedly, prosecutors argued, because she denied him sex. Despite his unwavering claims of innocence and the lack of a murder weapon, some dodgy and since-discredited science made him the sole suspect, with the lead investigator’s files never released to his defense attorney. The case haunted the latter for years, who turned to the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to using DNA testing to help exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. They, together with a respected Houston attorney, faced stonewalling from the prosecution and police, but ultimately proved victorious, gaining access to exculpatory evidence that saw Morton freed. Reinert’s restrained but effective telling of this increasingly enraging tale of injustice hinges on the participation of Morton himself, a remarkably peaceful presence, who recounts his ordeal from the very courthouse in which he was sentenced, aided by interviews from prison friends, and, most affectingly, the son who grew up believing his father had killed his mother – and whose suppressed eyewitness report of the murder at the age of 3 unexpectedly proves to be a significant lead to his father’s eventual exoneration.
