A young girl is found battered to death. Her boyfriend Jake is missing. Jake is eventually found. Jake's parents, a doctor (Meryll Streep) and a sculptor (Liam Neeson) cannot agree on how to defend their son. His father hides the evidence; his mother sides with telling the truth. Jake's lawyer has the view that truth doesn't count and casting doubt on the victim is the defendant's greatest ally. To him winning the trial is more important than the truth because he believes that truth may get the defendant a conviction and the result shows the lawyer to be right.
The story is told by another member of the family, Jake's sister.
The plot is centered around Jacob's attempts to cope with the situation, his father's steadfast refusal to abandon him, his mother's faith in telling the truth, and the town's anger and desire for retribution.

watching if the viewer is interested in family dynamics, since this is a family drama on the dark side, not necessarily a courtroom one.

the well-drawn characters, the superb acting and the winter scenery.

is excellent as Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Edward Furlong, Julia Weldon, Alfred Molina, Alison Folland, John Heard with director Barbet Schroeder and producers Barbet Schroeder and Susan Hoffman.

to a degree, it shows what's right and wrong with the U.S. criminal justice system and it makes one think to what lengths a parent (or parents) could go to protect a child.

I think the movie starts wonderfully and is great until halfway. Then the emotion fizzles down a beat. At the end, it feels wrapped up too soon and without saying enough. Still it is a good movie that shows when family ties are strong even an unfortunate tragedy cannot break them.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Before and After   from Amazon.Com!

Created Sep 19, 2003 at 9:30pm • Submit your own review...