Law on Film

Recent episodes

1. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) (Guest: Daniel Ortiz) (episode 62)

   Aug 4, 2026

   Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 film, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), sets a murder story inside what seems the safest place imaginable: an ordinary American family in an ordinary American town. But as suspicion gathers around Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton), the film slowly exposes something more unsettling than a single killer on the run. It reveals how charm, respectability, and social status can insulate wrongdoing from scrutiny — and how communities prefer comforting narratives to disruptive truths. The police investigate, but they move hesitantly; the town remains confident in its own innocence. The real drama unfolds not in the courtroom, but at the dinner table. The film explores law’s capacity — and its limits. How does misogyny operate not just as motive but as ideology? What happens when loyalty to family collides with loyalty to justice? And in a film released at the height of World War II, is Hitchcock warning that the most dangerous threats to democracy are not always foreign invaders, but may also be charismatic figures embedded within everyday life? Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:13 Teaching law students through film 5:54 Shadow of a Doubt and law’s inadequacies 11:11 The film’s setting and Santa Rosa, CA 14:54 Imagining the perfect crime 21:21 Misogyny in Shadow of a Doubt 27:48 Playing with crime genres and narrative structures 32:58 Hitchcock’s cameo 35:16 Doubling and other filmic techniques 48:19 Complicity in covering up the evil 51:11 A critique of wartime idealism and the narrative of the enemy within 56:17 Questioning American institutions Further reading: Eggert, Brian, Shadow of a Doubt , Deep Focus Review (Mar. 2, 2013) Hughes, Rowland, “Shadows and Doubts: Hitchcock, Genre, and Villainy,” in The Devil Himself: Villainy in Detective Fiction and Film (Stacy Gillis & Philippa Gates eds. 2001) Modleski, Tania, The Women Who Knew Too Much (1988) Scovell, Adam, “Why the sinister Shadow of a Doubt was Hitchcock’s Favourite,” The Telegraph (Feb. 7, 2023) Truffaut, Francois, Hitchcock (Simon & Schuster, 1985) Wood, Robin, Hitchcock’s Films Revisited (2002) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

2. Blade Runner & Blade Runner 2049 (episode 61)

   Jul 14, 2026

   This episode we look at Blade Runner (1982) (dir. Ridley Scott) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (dir. Denis Villeneuve), two films that imagine a world where the line between human and machine, creation and creator, has all but vanished. Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic depicted a rain-soaked dystopia where “replicants”—bio-engineered beings—fight for recognition, identity, and life itself. Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 sequel deepens that vision. Law operates in the shadows across both films: as surveillance, classification, and control. The “blade runners” themselves enforce a form of administrative violence that exposes the limits of legal personhood. What does it mean to have rights without recognition, or to be alive without legal existence? And conversely, what are the implications of recognizing rights and legal personhood in robots? In this episode, we’ll examine these and other themes around artificial intelligence, migration, colonization, and bioethics as well as the way films themselves can contribute to and shape public perceptions about these issues. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:45 Emotion and memory in robots 8:08 Slave labor and robot rebellion 9:54 Generative AI and other changes since the first Blade Runner 15:16 Robots giving birth 20:19 Robot rights 24:17 A new category of companion 32:56 Filmic depictions of AI 38:01 “Time to Die” 43:21 The political economy of AI development 47:22 A dystopian vision of data and surveillance 52:18 A positive post-human future? 57:58 Concepts of immortality Further reading: Almog, Shulamit, “When a Robot Can Love – Blade Runner as a Cautionary Tale on Law and Technology,” in Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice (Jan. 1, 2013) Birhane, Abeba, van Dijk Jelle, and Pasquale, Frank, “Debunking Robot Rights Metaphysically, Ethically, and Legally,” 29(4) First Monday (2024) Darling, Kate, The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots (2021) Dick, Philip K., Do Androids Dream of Sheep (1968) Lewis, C.S., Abolition of Man (1943) Oliver, Kendra H., Higgs, Oliver S., and Clayton, J., “The End of Genetic Privacy in the Blade Runner Canon,” 14 (1/2) Journal of Literature and Science 108 (Dec. 2022) Pasquale, Frank, “Cultural Foundations for Conserving Human Capacities Amidst Generative Artificial Intelligence: Toward a Philosophico-Literary Critique of Simulation,” in Being Human (B. Roessler & V. Steeves, eds, 2024) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

3. Erin Brockovich (2000) (Guest: Dror Ladin) (episode 60)

   Jun 23, 2026

   Erin Brockovich (2000) (directed by Steven Soderbergh) is based on the true story of Erin Brockovich, a legal assistant without formal training, who uncovers one of the most significant environmental lawsuits in U.S. history: the case against Pacific Gas and Electric for contaminating groundwater in Hinkley, California. The film, which features an Oscar-winning performance by Julia Roberts in the title role, explores the role of lawsuits in exposing truth and gaining compensation for victims, the gendered dynamics of legal advocacy, and the challenges of taking on entrenched power structures in society. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:59 Who is Erin Brockovich? 3:11 Obstacles to holding corporations accountable 5:49 How Erin Brockovich overcomes those obstacles 8:10 Imbalance of power and resources 14:40 Hinkley, California 18:00 Accessing records 21:16 Tort reform, punitive damages, and proportionality 27:10 States and environmental regulation 32:22 Causation and attribution science 37:30 Whistleblowers 41:17 Finding the “smoking gun” 42:53 The practice of law and parenting Further reading: Banks, Sedina “The ‘Erin Brockovich Effect’: How Media Shapes Toxics Policy,” 26 Environs Env’t L. Poly’ J. 219 (2003) Brockovich, Erin and Eliot, Marc, Take It from Me: Life’s a Struggle but You Can Win (2002) Chen, Sarah Small, “Toxic Film: Analyzing the Impact of Films Depicting Major Contamination Events on the Regulation of Toxic Chemicals,” 35 Georgetown Env’t L. Rev. 561 (2023) "'Erin Brockovich’ Made their Town Famous: They Still Don’t Have Clean Water,” Wash. Post (Dec. 27, 2024) Martens, Daniel L. “Chromium, Cancer, and Causation: Has a Death-Blow Been Dealt Chromium Cases in California?” 16 Natural Resources & Env’t 264 (2002) McCann, Michael McCann & Haltom, William, “Ordinary Heroes vs. Failed Lawyers – Public Interest Litigation in Erin Brockovich and Other Contemporary Films,” 33 Law & Soc. Inquiry 1045 (2008) “Still Toxic After All These Years,” Grist (Jan. 29, 2019) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

4. Monster (2003) (Guest: Mara Malagodi) (episode 59)

   Jun 2, 2026

   This episode examines a case that sits at the uneasy boundary between criminal adjudication, media power, and moral authority: the prosecution and execution of Aileen Wuornos, labeled the “first female serial killer. We look at two documentaries by Nick Broomfield— Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992) and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)—alongside the feature film Monster (2003), written and directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Charlize Theron in an Oscar-winning role. Broomfield’s documentaries are less about guilt or innocence than about process: who controls the narrative, how legal representation operates, and what happens when a defendant’s life becomes an object of transaction, between lawyers, media, and the public. The films also penetrate the issues around the application of the death penalty in the United States, and the problems that arise when the state seeks to executive individuals who are themselves victims and suffer from severe mental illness. Monster approaches the same facts through dramatization. It also raises important questions, including how far context should matter in judging criminal responsibility and construction of narratives around crimes. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:58 Capturing law on film 5:24 The two Nick Broomfield documentaries 11:16 Addressing Aileen Wuornos’s murders 14:04 The flawed defense strategy 18:47 The depiction of Tyria Moore (Aileen Wuornos’s girlfriend 20:55 Selling the Aileen Wuornos story 23:09 The theme of the “monster” 28:29 Themes of betrayal and self-defense 31:53 Nick Broomfield and an outsider view of the American legal system 34:56 Mental illness and the death penalty 37:39 Media coverage of sensational murders 39:22 Failures of the legal process 44:26 A critique of the death penalty 47:00 Exoticization in the films Further Reading: Cavanaugh, L. Sheila, “‘White Trash:’ Abject Skin in Film Reviews of ‘Monster’,” in Skin , Culture, and Pscyhoanalysis (Cavanaugh, L. Sheila et al. eds.) (2013) Dargis, Manohla, “Life and Death Issues,” Los Angeles Times (Jan. 9. 2004) Diamond, Suzanna, “‘A Flower in a Hard Rain’: Melodramatic Storytelling by, and About, Aileen Wuornos,” Anthurium , vol. 15(2) (2019) Horeck, Tanya, “From Documentary to Drama: Capturing Aileen Wuornos,” Screen , vol. 48(2), pp. 141-59 (Summer 2007) Pearson, Kyra, “The Trouble with Aileen Wuornos, Feminism’s ‘First Serial Killer,’” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies , vol. 4(3), pp. 256-75 (Sept. 2007 Smith, Abbe, “The ‘Monster’ in All of Us: When Victims Become Perpetrators,” 38 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 367 (2005) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

5. My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow (2024) (Russian) (Guests: Rachel Denber & Anna Nemzer) (episode 58)

   May 12, 2026

   My Undesirable Friends: Part I—Last Air in Moscow (2024) is Russian-language American documentary film written and directed by Julia Loktev (with co-director Anna Nemzer). The film describes the effort to maintain press freedoms in Putin’s Russia in the period leading up to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The documentary provides an intimate portrait of independent Russian journalists—mainly young women—who risk everything to pursue truth and accountability amidst escalating repression under the Putin regime. Filmed in late 2021 and early 2022, the documentary captures how the legal machinery of censorship, surveillance, and state-harassment converged to crush internal dissent and incapacitate civil society. It not only provides a profoundly disturbing account of what has occurred in Russia but also serves as a broader warning about the fragility of press freedoms and in a time of rising authoritarianism worldwide. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:45 How the film came about 5:25 A primer on Russian censorship and repression 15:15 “Foreign agents” and “undesirable organizations” 23:32 Social marginalization through the creation of an enemies list 28:46 State persecution of TV Rain and other independent media 32:45 The manipulation of language 36:30 Identifying the pivotal moment 43:36 How the film captures the elimination of press freedoms 48:26 Courts and lawyers 53:27 The Kremlin’s public mobilization to support the war in Ukraine 58:53 Independent journalism in exile 1:02:17 Parallels to the United States under Trump Further reading: Chang, Justin, “‘My Undesirable Friends: Part I’ Is a Staggering Portrait of Russian Journalists in Dissent,” New Yorker (Aug. 14, 2025) Edel, Anastasia, “Putin vs. the Press,” Foreign Policy (Oct. 3, 2025) Human Rights Watch, Russia’s Legislative Minefield: Tripwires for Civil Society Since 2020 (2024) Human Rights Watch, Disrupted, Throttled, and Blocked State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia (2025) Krupskiy, Maxim, “The Impact of Russia’s ‘Foreign Agents’ Legislation on Civil Society,” Fletcher Russia & Eurasia Program (2023) Troinovski, Anton & Safronova, Valeriya, “Russia Takes Censorship to New Extremes, Stifling War Coverage,” New York Times (May 18, 2022) Yablokov, Ilya & Gatov, Vasily, “Broadcasting through the (New) Iron Curtain: Practices, Challenges, and Legacies of Russia's Independent Media in Exile,” Journalism Studies (Feb. 11, 2025) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

6. Small Things Like These (2024) (Guest: Sean Patrick Donlan) (episode 57)

   Apr 21, 2026

   Small Things Like These (2024), adapted by Edna Walsh from Claire Keegan’s 2021 novel, tells the story of how coal merchant Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) uncovers disturbing secrets in a small Irish town in the mid-1980s. While going about his job delivering coal, Furlong discovers the truth about the Magdalene laundries—the abusive asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996. During this period, thousands of girls and women were imprisoned, forced to carry out unpaid labor and subjected to severe psychological and physical maltreatment. Furlong’s discovery about the local convent in his town parallels the story of his remembering and having to come to terms with his own traumatic childhood. The film provides a powerful and moving depiction life in a small Irish town, the role of the Magdalene laundries, and the power of the Roman Catholic Church to enforce a code of silence about the abuses taking place within a community. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:14 The Magdalene laundries 6:39 Laundries in a broader social context 13:02 The convent’s power and secrecy 17:18 The absence of guilty men 18:31 The banality of evil 20:34 Why the laundries lasted so long 24:00 How they ended 26:02 Inquiries and accountability 28:16 Focus on the laundries in films and popular culture 30:38 The Bill Furlong character 36:20 Ireland in the 1980s Further reading: Seán Patrick Donlan, “Screening for Help – Irish Care and Confinement," Film Ireland (Nov. 21, 2025) Keegan, Claire, S mall Things Like These (Faber & Faber 2021) McGourty, Courtney, “Not Merely a Shameful Past: The Case for State Responsibility in the Magdalene Laundries,” Opinio Juris (Aug 11, 2023) Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to Establish the Facts of State Involvement with the Magdalene Laundrie s (2013) Smith, James M., Ireland's Magdalen Laundries and the Nation's Architecture of Containment (Univ. Notre Dame Press 2007) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

7. Syriana (2005): Special Commentary (Guest: Peggy McGuiness)

   Apr 2, 2026

   We return to Syriana, a film we discussed previously in Episode 40, but one that feels newly urgent in light of the current war with Iran. When it was released in 2005, the film offered a dense, unsettling portrait of a post-9/11 world shaped by oil, covert operations, and overlapping networks of state and corporate power. Today, Syriana reads less as a product of its time and more as a reflection of a sharp turn in U.S. foreign policy, shaped by the erosion of institutional guardrails and a naked military imperialism—with the current reality even more dystopian than the one depicted in the film. 0:00 Introduction 1:15 Why Syriana is so relevant to the U.S. military action in Iran 3:20 "The Committee for the Liberation of Iran” 6:47 Syriana as Dubai 9:15 Corruption moves from sidelines to the cabinet under Trump 12:06 The continued vulnerability of migrant workers 14:03 The loss of U.S. omnipotence on drone warfare 16:29 The involvement of Israel 18:33 The authoritarian turn in U.S. foreign policy 21:20 Syriana : a must watch now Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

8. The Lives of Others (2006) (Guests: Mark Drumbl & Barbora Hola) (episode 56)

   Mar 31, 2026

   This episode looks at The Lives of Others , Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s haunting exploration of surveillance, complicity, and the brittle architecture of authoritarian legality in the final years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany). The critically acclaimed 2006 film examines how law can be co-opted into an instrument of domination, how bureaucratic routines of “security” normalize repression, and how small acts of resistance acquire profound moral weight under systems built on fear and an extensive system of informers. The Lives of Others raises enduring questions about the ethics of observing and informing in Cold War Eastern Europe. To help unpack these themes, I’m joined by Mark Drumbl and Barbara Holá, whose recent book Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague (Oxford Univ. Press) offers a deeply researched, empirically grounded look at informers within repressive regimes and transitional justice processes. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 4:23 East Germany in 1984 6:32. The timelessness of informing 7:35. The surveillance state in the Eastern bloc 13:27 Informers and informing 19:36. Informing's afterlife 23:26 The book’s methodology and illustrative cases 33:26 The corrosive impact on social relations 35:02 Who becomes an informant and why 38:22 Informers and transitional justice 44:57 The opening of the secret files 50:39 Informers and agents 55:54 Resistance and historical revisionism 1:00:46 How the book came about Further reading: Ash, Timothy Garton, The File (1997) Burkhard, Bilger, “Piecing Together the Secrets of the Stasi,” The New Yorker (May 27, 2024) Cords, Suzzane, “Stasi: How the GDR kept its citizens under surveillance,” DW (Aug. 1, 2025) Drumbl, Mark A. & Holá, Barbora, Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague (2024) Alford, C. Fred, Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power (2001) Lindenberger, Thomas, “Stasiploitation: Why Not? The Scriptwriter’s Historical Creativity in ‘The Lives of Others,’” 31 (3) German Studies Review 557 (2008) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

9. The Killing Fields (1984) (Guest: Alexandra Meise) (episode 55)

   Mar 10, 2026

   The Killing Fields (1984), directed by Roland Joffe, depicts the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia and the genocide that followed, which resulted in the death of approximately 2-3 million people. The film is based on the experiences of New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterson) and Cambodian journalist Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor). It provides a haunting depiction of mass violence as well as a moving story about these two colleagues and friends. In the wake of the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, it is worth revisiting a film that is as powerful and relevant today as when it was released. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:16 The Khmer Rouge and Year Zero 6:04 The U.S. contribution to the Cambodian genocide 8:14 The role of journalists in Cambodia and conflict zones 17:34 The treatment of journalists under international law 18:46 The killing fields and the film’s impact 24:08 Sydney Schanberg and Dith Pran, and journalistic ethics 34:10 The ECCC and transitional justice in Cambodia 42:44 Journalists and international criminal proceedings 47:50 Haing Ngor and his tragic fate 53:26 Civil society endeavors to bring history to life 55:21 The fall of Phnom Penh 59:03 The failed attempt to get Dith Pran out 1:00:15 The risks facing journalists today Further reading: Becker, Elizabeth, When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution (1988) Brown, Mark, “Genocide Films, Public Criminology, Collective Memory,” 53 (6) The British Journal of Criminology (2013) Chandler, David P., The Pol Pot Regime (1991) Kiernan, Ben, Genocide in Cambodia (Revised ed. 2008) Ngor, Haing (with Warner, Roger), Survival in the Killing Fields (1987) Nunn, Nora, "Rose-Colored Genocide: Hollywood, Harmonizing Narratives, and the Cinematic Legacy,” 14(2) Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal 65 (2020) Schanberg, Sydney H., The Death and Life of Dith Pran (1985) Shawcross, William, Sideshow (1979) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

10. Conclave (2024) (Guest: Monsignor Raymond Kupke) (episode 54)

    Feb 10, 2026

    In Conclave (2024), Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) organizes a conclave to elect a new pope. Key candidates and factions vie with one another as the process plays out until finally a new pope is elected. The film was directed by Edward Berger from a script by Peter Straughan (based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris), and features an all-star cast including Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, and Isabella Rossellini. The film provides a window into the process for electing a new pope, along with the legal, historical, and political forces that have shaped it. Timestamps: 0.00 Introduction 2:32 The origins of the conclave 5:29 Electing a new pope 8:03 The College of Cardinals 10:23 The Apostolic Constitutions 14:46 The contentious conclave in the film 21:05 Naming a new cardinal in pectore 24:51 Leo XIV, the new pope 26:58 The Roman Curia 26:38 The nuns in the film 30:05 Symbol and ritual: the smoke from the chimney 32:17 The custom of a new pope choosing a name 36:55 Struggles over different visions of the church 40:58 How accurate was the film in capturing a conclave? 42:39 How the conclave has changed 45:04 Possible future changes to the papal selection process Further reading: Allen, John L. Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election (2002) Baumgartner, Frederic J., Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections (2003) Harris, Robert, Conclave (2016) Povoledo, Elisabetta, “A Papal Primer That’s Fiction, but Also Rings True,” N.Y. Times (Mar. 2, 2025) West, Morris, L., The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

11. Inglourious Basterds (2009) (Guest Renana Keydar) (episode 53)

    Jan 20, 2026

    Inglourious Basterds (2009), written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, revolves around two plots to assassinate Nazi leaders during the closing years of World War II. One plot centers on a secret band of Jewish-American soldiers under the command of Ltn. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt)—the “Basterds”—who terrorize Nazis. The other involves Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a young Jewish woman who narrowly escapes death at the hands of notorious “Jew hunter” Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) and flees to Paris where she runs a cinema under a false identity. The plot lines converge at the Paris cinema where the Basterds and Shosanna are each separately plotting to kill Hitler and other Nazi leaders while they are attending the premiere of a German propaganda film. The film utilizes alternate history to explore themes surrounding the pursuit of justice against the perpetrators of mass atrocities and the complex relationship between law and vengeance. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:37 Reimagining the arc of justice 8:00 Alternatives to the progress narrative 16:51 The power of violence and revenge 21:56 Counterfactuals and alternative histories 27:03 The limits of legalistic responses to atrocities 32:24 The role of cinema in Nazi Germany 39:00 Narratives of progress 44:10 Ending with a primal moment of revenge Further reading: Hussain, Nadine, “‘Inglorious Basterds’: A Satirical Criticism of WWII Cinema and the Myth of the American War Hero,” 13(2) Inquiries Journal 1 (2021) Jackson, Robert H., Opening Statement before the International Military Tribunal , Robert H. Jackson Center (Nov. 21, 1945) James, Caryn, “Why Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s Masterpiece,” BBC (Aug. 16, 2019) Keydar, Renana, “‘Lessons in Humanity’: Re-evaluating International Criminal Law’s Narrative of Progress in the Post 9/11 Era,” 17 (2) J. Int’l Criminal Justice 229 (2019) Kligerman, Eric. “Reels of Justice: Inglourious Basterds, The Sorrow and the Pity, and Jewish Revenge Fantasies,” in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds: A Manipulation of Metacinema (Robert Dassanowsky ed., 2012) Tekay, Baran “Transforming Cultural Memory: ‘Inglourious Basterds’”, 48(1) Film Criticism (2024) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

12. I'm Still Here (Brazil) (2024) (Guest: Isabela Amaral) (episode 52)

    Dec 16, 2025

    I’m Still Here (dir. Walter Salles, 2024) is based on the true story of the enforced disappearance and murder of former congressman Rubens Paiva by the military dictatorship in Brazil. The film opens in Rio de Janeiro in 1970, where Rubens lives with his wife, Eunice, and their five children. Their lives are forever altered when the military government arrests and disappears Rubens. The film describes Eunice’s attempt to find out what happened to Rubens and to rebuild her life and raise her family in his absence. The film is based on the memoir of their son, Marcelo Rubens Paiva, who was a young boy when Rubens was disappeared. I’m Still Here provides a harrowing account of Brazil's military dictatorship and a moving story of a woman’s struggle to overcome adversity and obtain justice. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:16 The military dictatorship in Brazil 4:38 Living amid contradictions 6:52 The kidnapping of the Swiss ambassador 8:33 Rubens’ arrest and disappearance 12:38 Authoritarian legality 14:18 The arrest and mistreatment of family members 17:16 Covering up state crimes 19:29 Exile as another tool of repression 23:08 Enforced disappearances 27:18 Leveraging international pressure 29:08 Eunice Paiva’s struggle and success 33:15 Support for the military dictatorship 36:01 Finally obtaining Rubens’ death certificate 25 years later 40:10 Brazil’s National Truth Commission 48:39 Authoritarian threats to democracy today Further reading: Atencio, Rebecca J., Memory’s Turn: Reckoning with Dictatorship in Brazil (2014) Filho, Paulo Coehlo, “Truth Commission in Brazil: Individualizing Amnesty, Revealing the Truth,” The Yale Review of International Studies (Feb. 29, 2012) Lima, Ana Gabriela Oliveira, “Corrected death certificates for Herzog, Rubens Paiva,and one hundred others are celebrated in a ceremony,” Folha de S. Paulo (Oct. 8, 2025) Paiva, Marcelo Rubens, I’m Still Here (2025) Pitts, Bryan , Until the Storm Passes: Politicians, Democracy, and the Demise of Brazil’s Military Dictatorship (2023) Weinberg, Eyal, “Transitional Justice in Brazil, 1970s–2010s,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia (2022) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

13. An Officer and a Spy (2019) (Guest: William Schabas) (episode 51)

    Nov 25, 2025

    This episode explores An Officer and a Spy (J’accuse in French), Roman Polanski’s 2019 film about the Dreyfus Affair in France. The Dreyfus Affair is one of most significant events in late 19th/early 20th century, an event whose implications reverberated for decades in France and around the world. The Dreyfus Affair centered around the military trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus on charges of treason. Wrongly convicted based on secret evidence and false information, Dreyfus’s case would become a cause célèbres and synonymous with a miscarriage of justice. It also exposed and exacerbated tensions within French society while underscoring deep and pervasive levels of antisemitism. Based on Robert Harris's 2013 novel of the same name, An Officer and a Spy focuses on the role of George Picquart, the military officer who helps uncover the truth behind Dreyfus’s wrongful conviction, and Picquart’s complex relationship with Dreyfus himself. Hewing closely to historical fact, the film highlights critical issues around law, truth, and justice, at the heart of the Dreyfus affair and why it remains so relevant today. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 3:02 An overview of the Dreyfus case and key players 5:54. Georges Picquart 13:14. The struggle to overturn Dreyfus’s conviction 17:54 Tensions over the Dreyfus affair and a lack of accountability 20:48 The “evidence” in the Dreyfus case 25:38 How the Dreyfus affair divided French society 30:16 Other films about the Dreyfus affair 33:54 The controversy around Roman Polanski as director 39:21 Legacies of the Dreyfus affair 45:13 The role of Colonel Henry Further reading: Begley, Louis, Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters (2009) Bredin, Jean‑Denis, The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus (1986) Doherty, Thomas, “From Méliès to Polanski: The Dreyfus Affair on Film,” Cineaste (2020) Harris, Robert, An Officer and a Spy (2013) Read, Piers Paul, The Dreyfus Affair: The Scandal That Tore France in Two (2013) Samuels, Maurice, Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair (2024) Zola, Émile, The Dreyfus Affair: J’Accuse and Other Writings (1998) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

14. Juror #2 (2024) (Guest: Frank Wohl) (episode 50)

    Nov 4, 2025

    This episode examines Juror #2 , Clint Eastwood’s most recent—and perhaps final—film. Juror #2 centers around the trial of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend after a fight at a bar, leaving her in a ditch by the side of a road. The twist comes early: Justin Kemp a/k/a Juror #2 (played by Nicholas Hoult) soon realizes that the wrong man is on trial—as he hears the evidence, Kemp figures out that he, and not the defendant, killed the victim. Kemp realizes that he accidentally hit the defendant’s girlfriend with his car while she was walking along the side of a road on a dark and rainy night—thinking at the time, that he had hit a deer. Kemp, otherwise portrayed as a good man—a loving husband with a baby on the way—must navigate the moral dilemma as he serves on a jury that seems prepared to condemn an innocent man. Eastwood’s first courtroom drama in a long and legendary career, Juror #2 explores themes of justice, morality, and the imperfections of the legal system. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:46 A flawed process 7:05 The ex-police detective on the jury and the motion for a mistrial 15:40 The lawyer’s problematic advice 23:16 A prosecutor who eventually does the right thing 27:17 The public defender 31:28 A good person caught in terrible circumstances? 40:40 Missing scenes in the legal narrative 44:46 A dark picture of the U.S. criminal justice system Further reading: “A Forensic Review of ‘Juror #2,’” J. American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law , vol. 53(1) (2025) Banner, Adam, “Honesty in jury pool examined in ‘Juror #2,’” ABA Bar Journal (Jan. 28, 2025) Brody, Richard, “In ‘Juror #2,’ Clint Eastwood Judges the System Harshly,” New Yorker (Oct 30, 2024) Melonic, Emina, “The Storytelling of Clint Eastwood,” Law & Liberty (Jan. 10, 2025) Upendra, Chidella, “The Ethical Vision of Clint Eastwood,” Journal of Religion & Film , vol. 17(2) (Oct. 2013) Zagha, Muriel, “Clint Eastwood’s Puritan Morality Tale,” Engelsberg Ideas (Dec. 2, 2024) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

15. Vindication Swim (2024) (Guest: Elliot Hasler) (episode 49)

    Oct 13, 2025

    Vindication Swim (2024) tells the story of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. This major accomplishment, however, was soon called into question when another swimmer made a dubious claim to the same feat. To defend her integrity and her legacy, Gleitze (Kirsten Callaghan) attempted what she called her “vindication swim” — a second crossing of the English Channel intended to silence her critics and restore her reputation. Vindication Swim is about more than an athletic feat. It also raises timeless questions of proof, reputation, and justice, while providing a window into the barriers imposed by gender and class in early 20th-century England. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:14 Who was Mercedes Gleitz? 5:14 Training to play Mercedes Gleitz 6:14 Gleitz’s 1927 English Channel swim is called into question 8:58 A key event for women in open water swimming 11:22 The intersection of gender, class, and nationality 16:02 An impetus for regulating open water swimming 17:46 The vindication swim 20:49 The challenges in filming the swim 24:35: Raising awareness about a historical injustice 29:08 Restoring Mercedes Gleitz to prominence Further Reading: “Mercedes Gleitze and the Vindication Swim,” LoneSwimmer (Oct. 18, 2013) Pember, Doloranda, In the Wake of Mercedes Gleitze: Open Water Swimming Pioneer (2019) Thorpe, Vanessa, “‘No stunt doubles for me,’ says actor who braved Channel to recreate epic swim,” The Guardian (Mar. 2, 2024) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

16. The Godfather (1972) (Guest: Steve Koh) (episode 48)

    Sep 16, 2025

    Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel, The Godfather depicts the rise and legacy of the Corleone family, a fictional Italian-American organized crime family led by Vito Corleone and the transformation of his son Michael from a reluctant outsider to a ruthless mafia boss. The film, which features an ensemble cast of American film icons, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duval, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and John Cazale, explores themes of family, power, and the American Dream. It also provides a window into the relationship between law and culture while offering complex perspectives on the meaning of justice. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 3:08 “I believe in America” 12:27 Business and the personal 14:07 Competing views of law and justice in America 16:57 The legitimate and illegitimate, the sacred and the profane 20:52 Narratives about the mafia 26:59 The consigliere 33:59 Tensions between tradition and modernity 39:37 Ritual 44:41 Performance and power 49:11 Retribution 55:18 The mafia and The Godfather 56:48 Codes of loyalty 102:39 The immigrant experience Further reading: Barber, Nicholas, “The Godfather: Have we misunderstood America's greatest film?”, BBC (Mar. 13, 2022) Coppola, Francis Ford, The Godfather Notebook (2016) Denvir, John, “The Slotting Function: How Movies Influence Political Decision,” 28 Vermont L. Rev. 799 (2003-04) Gambrell, Brian C., “Leave the Representation, Take the Cannoli: The Crime Fraud Exception to the Attorney-Client Privilege and ‘The Godfather,’” 23 South Carolina Lawyer (2011-12) Papke, David, “Myth and Meaning: Francis Ford Coppola and Popular Response to The Godfather Trilogy,” in Legal Reelism: Movies as Legal Text (John Denvir ed., 1996) Puzo, Mario, The Godfather (1969) Seal, Mark, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather (2021) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

17. No Other Land (2024) (Palestinian-Israeli) (Guests: Omer Bartov & Lisa Hajjar) (episode 47)

    Aug 12, 2025

    No Other Land (2024) is the Oscar-winning documentary that shows the brutal destruction of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank. Recorded between 2019 to 2023, the film tells the story of Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist, who has been protesting the Israeli army’s destruction of homes and eviction of villagers. Adra is assisted by Yuval Abraham, a Jewish Israeli journalist. (They are also two of the film’s four directors). To Adra and other Palestinians, the Israeli army is destroying their homeland. The Israeli army, however, maintains that the inhabitants are on land that the military needs for live-fire military training and that the evictions have been duly authorized by Israeli courts. The situation turns violent—Adra’s cousin is shot by Israeli soldiers in the days after the Oct 7 attacks—and Adra himself is endangered by his efforts to record the evictions and protests. The film provides a penetrating look not only at a Palestinian community in the West Bank but also at the plight of those being forced off their land--with literally nowhere else to go. [Editor's Note: Since the recording of this episode, Odeh Hathalin, a Palestinian activist and contributor to the film, was shot and killed in a village in Masafer Yatta by an Israeli settler.] Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 3:42 Masafar Yatta and the Occupied West Bank 7:43 The legal apparatus of illegal occupation 13:14 The “Gazafication” of the West Bank 20:08 The meaning of “No Other Land” 23:21 Israel and the international community 31:24 The crackdown on free speech in the United States and in Israel 34:41 A complex story of an Israeli-Palestinian friendship 41:18 The power of images 43:07 Growing Israeli indifference to Gaza and the West Bank after Oct. 7 48:30 The film’s reception in Israel 49:53 Law-based criticism of Israel and antisemitism Further reading: Bartov, Omer, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It,” New York Times (July 15, 2025) Beinart, Peter, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning (2025) Caplan, Neil, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories (2010) Hajjar, Lisa, “International Humanitarian Law and ‘Wars on Terror’: A Comparative Analysis of Israeli and American Doctrines and Policies,” 36 Journal of Palestine Studies 36 (Autumn 2006) Kaufman, Anthony, "No Other Distribution: How Film Industry Economics and Politics Are Suppressing Docs Sympathetic to Palestine and Critical of Israel," Int’l Documentary Ass’n (Jan 15, 2025) Khalidi, Rashid, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 (2020) Lukenville, Mackenzie, “The Only Path Forward: ‘No Other Land,’” Int’l Documentary Ass’n (Dec. 5, 2024) Sfard, Michael, Occupation from Within: A Journey to the Roots of the Constitutional Coup (2025) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

18. The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) (France) (Guest: Joseph Dellapenna) (episode 46)

    Jul 22, 2025

    The Return of Martin Guerre is a 1982 French historical drama directed by Daniel Vigne and staring Gerard Depardieu. The film describes the historical case of Martin Guerre who leaves his young wife Bertrande (Nathalie Baye) in the small French village of Artigat to fight in a war and travel. Around eight years later, the false Martin (played by Depardieu) returns to the village to resume his life. The false Martin (whose real name is Arnaud du Tilh) persuades the people in the village that he is in fact Martin Guerre. This includes Bertrande, who goes on to have two children with the false Martin and who seems happy to finally have a husband who loves her, as opposed to the real Martin, with whom she was trapped in an arranged and loveless marriage. But when the imposter Martin presses his uncle for the money he is owed for his land, the uncle denounces him as a fraud. An investigation and trial follow to determine if the Depardieu character is the real Martin. The imposter Martin is on the verge of winning until the real Martin shows up at the last minute, exposing the imposter Martin, who then confesses. The imposter (i.e., Arnaud) is then led to the gallows and hanged, and the real Martin resumes his place in the village. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:56 Teaching comparative law through film 4:18 A quick primer on French legal history 7:33 Jean de Coras and the Parliament of Toulouse 11:28 How the false Martin Guerre becomes Martin Guerre 16:12 The allegations against Martin and Bertrande 21:01 The trial of Martin Guerre 25:16 How the false Martin almost pulls it off 27:26 The execution 31:29 Religious conflict in 16th century Europe 34:59 The difficulty of proving identity at the time Further reading: Bienen, Leigh Buchanan, Book Review, “The Law as Storyteller,” 98 Harv. L. Rev. 494 (1984) Davis, Natalie Zemon, The Return of Martin Guerre (1983) Dellapenna, Joseph, “Peasants, Tanners, and Psychiatrists: Using Films to Teach Comparative Law,” 36 (1) Int’l J. Legal Information 156 (2008) Finlay, Robert, “The Refashioning of Martin Guerre,” 93(3 ) Am. Hist. Rev. 553 (1988) Hall, Phyllis A., “Teaching Analytical Thinking through the AHR Forum and ‘The Return of Martin Guerre’” Perspectives on History (Jan. 1, 1990) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

19. The Conformist (1970) (Guest: Aziz Huq) (episode 45)

    Jul 1, 2025

    This episode examines The Conformist , Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 political drama set in 1930s Italy. The film centers on Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a mid-level Fascist functionary who is ordered to assassinate his former professor, an anti-fascist dissident living in Paris. The film, which includes many flashbacks to Clerici’s early life and decision to join the secret police, provides powerful and chilling insights into the psychology of conformism and fascism The film, widely considered one of the greatest ever made, not only features outstanding performances but also superb production design (Fernando Scarfiotti) and cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) that helps capture Italy under Mussolini. The film is as timely today as it was when it was released, as the world witnesses a resurgence of authoritarianism in the United States and Europe. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 3:45 Fascist Italy under Mussolini 7:58 Why Clerici joins the fascists 12:39 Repression of sexual orientation and the desire to belong 14:10 Why people are vulnerable to fascism 18:56 Manganiello and the fascist enforcer 23:43 Perspectives on normalcy and the scenes in Paris 31:56 How the film speaks to the Trump era 36:40 Architecture in Mussolini’s Italy 39:08 The murder of Quadri and Anna 44:39 After Mussolini falls 50:30 The lack of consequences for going along with fascism 56:04 The Holocaust in Mussolini’s Italy Further reading: Bosworth, R.J.B., Mussolini’s Italy: Life under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945 (2006) Elbiri, Bilge, “It’s Time to See ‘The Conformist’ Again,” Vulture (Jan. 14, 2023) Huq, Aziz, "America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State," The Atlantic (Mar. 23. 2025) Kael, Pauline, “‘The Conformist’: The Poetry of Images,” New Yorker (Mar. 27, 1971) Moravia, Alberto, The Conformist (1951) Musil, Robert, The Man Without Qualities (1930-43) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

20. Dark Waters (2019) (Guest: Mark Templeton) (episode 44)

    Jun 10, 2025

    Dark Waters (2019), directed by Todd Haynes, tells the real-life story of how a lawyer, Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), waged a twenty-year battle to hold the DuPont corporation accountable for contaminating a local water supply with carcinogenic chemicals that poisoned tens of thousands of people. While Bilott is ultimately able to achieve some degree of compensation and justice for the victims, the film shows the challenges of litigating against a powerful company bent on denying responsibility and covering up its misconduct. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:35 The origins: a small case for a family friend back home 6:24 Teflon and the “miracle” chemical 10:24 How attorney Rob Bilott uncovers the pollution 13:49 Getting the Taft firm on board 21:50 Addressing the legal challenges in the case 24:30 Medical monitoring and causation in toxic tort cases 28:36 Divisions in the community, financial pressures, and client management 30:30 DuPont’s clout 35:14 Bellwether trials: trying the cases in court 39:44 What the litigation achieved and the continued challenges 46:27 The risks of “forever chemicals” 49:50 Developments since the film was released 55:43 Can the legal system deliver justice? 1:01:53 Some further developments Further reading: Bilott, Robert, Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont (Atria Books 2019) Carucci, Rob, “Leadership Lessons from Rob Bilott’s 20 Year Battle for Justice Against DuPont,” Forbes (July 12, 2021) Nevitt, Mark P. & Percival, Robert V., “Can Environmental Law Solve the ‘Forever Chemical’ Problem,” 57 Wake Forest L. Rev. 239 (2022) Rich, Nathaniel, “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” N.Y. Times Magazine (Jan. 6, 2016) Small, Sarah Chen, Note, “Toxic Film: Analyzing the Impact of Films Depicting Major Contamination Events on the Regulation of Toxic Chemicals,” 35 Georgetown Env. L. Rev. 561 (2023) Tabuchi, Hiroko, “Trump Administration to Uphold Some PFAS Limits but Eliminate Others,” N.Y. Times (May 14, 2025) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast