Heaven's Fall - Official Trailer (2006)
- 5 years ago
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Successful New York attorney Sam Leibowitz travels to the South in 1933 to defend nine young black men accused of raping two white women on an Alabama freight train two years prior. Ranging in ages from twelve to twenty years, they were quickly tried and sentenced to the electric chair. News of their convictions spread and the plight of the Scottsboro Boys became a 'cause celebre' that fueled the fire of socialism worldwide, forcing an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and resulting in new trials for all nine defendants. Samuel Leibowitz, a savvy and self-assured defense lawyer with an impressive string of courtroom victories, agreed to represent the accused at their retrials in Decatur, Alabama. His journey into the Deep South symbolized the polarity of the times and set in motion a legal battle that ultimately changed the course of American history.
The Scottsboro case was a tragic chapter in American history and a story of epic injustice. From their arrest in 1931 to the release of the last Scottsboro defendant in 1950, the rights of nine young black men were violated. In this century, the world still faces many of the same racial prejudices and human rights issues that existed almost seventy-five years ago. While the names have changed, the rhetoric that convicted the Scottsboro Nine remains virtually the same. "Heavens Fall" shines a light on the cultural and political differences that divide us all.
Successful New York attorney Sam Leibowitz travels to the South in 1933 to defend nine young black men accused of raping two white women on an Alabama freight train two years prior. Ranging in ages from twelve to twenty years, they were quickly tried and sentenced to the electric chair. News of their convictions spread and the plight of the Scottsboro Boys became a 'cause celebre' that fueled the fire of socialism worldwide, forcing an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and resulting in new trials for all nine defendants. Samuel Leibowitz, a savvy and self-assured defense lawyer with an impressive string of courtroom victories, agreed to represent the accused at their retrials in Decatur, Alabama. His journey into the Deep South symbolized the polarity of the times and set in motion a legal battle that ultimately changed the course of American history.
The Scottsboro case was a tragic chapter in American history and a story of epic injustice. From their arrest in 1931 to the release of the last Scottsboro defendant in 1950, the rights of nine young black men were violated. In this century, the world still faces many of the same racial prejudices and human rights issues that existed almost seventy-five years ago. While the names have changed, the rhetoric that convicted the Scottsboro Nine remains virtually the same. "Heavens Fall" shines a light on the cultural and political differences that divide us all.