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Nashville Film Festival
The Trials of Darryl Hunt
While I saw a lot of amazing short and
feature-length films at the recent 2006 Nashville Film
Festival, this film was definitely a stand-out. I can’t think of
a documentary film recently that caused such an outcry of
emotion from an audience during the film and resonates so
strongly with a viewer after seeing the film.
The Movie
The Trials of Darryl Hunt
is a gripping chronicle of Darryl Hunt’s struggle to prove his
innocence after being wrongly convicted and incarcerated for the
1984 rape and murder of Deborah Sykes in Winston-Salem, N.C.
This battle would rage on for over 20 years.
The film expertly reconstructs the events in a
seamless mesh of crime scene photos, newspaper and television
coverage, the recordings of a questionable 911 call that first
lead police to suspect the then 19 year old Hunt in the crime
and interviews conducted with many people involved, from as
early as 1984 to the current day. Two other men, both with
criminal histories, were suspected: Johnny Gray and Hunt’s
friend Sammy Mitchell was suspect but Hunt was prosecuted in
1985 and after refusing to testify against his friend Mitchell,
who was also innocent, he was found guilty of a crime he did not
commit.
The first trial, which is shown in the film, is a
disgusting spectacle of “good ole boy” justice, a complete lack
of physical evidence and actually featured as a lead witness an
uneducated and hostile old man that had strong ties to the Ku
Klux Klan. The trial is discussed in sharp detail by Hunt’s
attorney Mark Rabil and Larry Little, a Winston-Salem city
official and a friend of Hunt’s.
After Hunt was initially convicted and sentenced
to life in prison, he was granted to a second trial in 1989.
But, again a tragedy of justice was allowed to take place and he
was wrongly convicted once again. When a DNA test conducted in
1994 did not match Hunt’s and proved that he could not have
committed the crime, the evidence was deem inconclusive.
It was at this point in the 20 year saga that
directors Stern and Sundberg began to construct The Trials of
Darryl Hunt.
The film is about much more than just racism. It
is a damning portrait of a corrupt Southern police department. I
wish I could say that Winston-Salem is a rare example, but there
are examples of this type of substandard and shady police work
in countless cities and towns throughout the South. Is it a
surprise to learn that the Winston-Salem Police Department
declined to participate in the making of this film?
The film is searing portrait of an innocent man
navigating his way through a corrupt and incompetent legal
system. The film has such emotionally devastating moments; it
will not soon leave your memory after you view it.
After the screening of the film, I had the
opportunity to meet Darryl Hunt himself, who was attending the
festival with one of the film’s producers. I don’t think I have
ever met an individual that had such a calm and forgiving spirit
in all of my life. It was an amazing moment after viewing what
all this soft-spoken man had gone through in his life.
The film is currently on the film festival
circuit and has been selected for HBO’s documentary series. It
is absolutely a must-see. Do everything within your power to see
this amazing film.
10/10
-Suzie Lackey |
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