Available on DVD: "Conviction"

Had Conviction — formerly titled Betty Anne Waters — been made in the '80s, it would've starred Sally Field or Jessica Lange as an unlikely system-bucker setting her jaw in determination to save her family. Now, it stars Hilary Swank, who leads with her chin and provides a convincing earthiness but can't overcome the film's form-letter feel.


Betty Anne (Swank), a small-town Massachusetts girl and her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) have been local roustabouts since they were kids. As adults, Kenny's had numerous run-ins with cops and Betty's a divorced mom with two sons who always supports her brother, even when he's picked up for murder one day in 1982.

Betty Anne knows Kenny didn't commit the crime he's serving a life sentence for. So, on her bartender's salary, she takes part-time community college classes to earn a law degree and get access to court documents. With the help of New York attorney Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher) and his Innocence Project, Betty Anne campaigns to have forensic evidence exonerate Kenny

Based on a true story, the movie's best scenes involve its heroine breaking down barriers by force of will as much as by legal wrangling. As in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby, Swank's strength as an actress is in the integrity she gives working-class characters and her steeliness helps Tony Goldwyn's movie move past its by-the-numbers structure.

Rockwell, though, is the movie's ace in the hole. Over the last decade, he has become one of the most reliable of character actors, modulating his wiry dangerousness without losing his edge. When Kenny, during visits with Betty Anne, sits listening to her progress reports, we see the effects of prison in his face. But Rockwell doesn't go slack — instead, he seems to be banking his manic energy.

It's at those times when Conviction makes its strongest case.