Heavens Fall (2006)

In the throbbing heart of 1933, renowned New York attorney Sam Leibowitz descends into the South's tumultuous underbelly. His mission? To champion the cause of nine young black men, unjustly accused of raping two women aboard an Alabama freight train. These hoboes, innocents aged between twelve and twenty years, were hastily condemned to death by an electric chair, their allegations fanning the flames of global socialism. The tale of these men, known as the Scottsboro Boys, sparked a cry for justice that echoed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, paving the way for a series of retrials. The confident and canny Leibowitz, armed with a remarkable record of legal victories, takes up their defense. This plunge into the Deep South serves as a vivid symbol of the era's stark contrasts, igniting a legal duel that would forever alter the trajectory of American law. "Heavens Fall" explores this heartrending saga of epic injustice, an unfortunate chapter in American history where the rights of nine black men were brutally trampled upon from their arrest in 1931 to the final defendant's release in 1950. The film holds a mirror to the persistent racial biases and human rights challenges that, though cloaked in modernity, eerily mirror the prejudices of seventy-five years ago. By delving into the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of diverse Scottsboro participants – black and white, North and South, powerful and impoverished – "Heavens Fall" seeks to bridge the cultural and political chasms that divide us, fostering a deeper understanding of one another in its wake. Despite the change in names and faces, the rhetoric that once convicted the Scottsboro Nine still lingers, its echoes serving as a sobering reminder of the past and a call to action for the future.

Heavens Fall is a crime movie featuring Timothy Hutton and directed by Terry Green .

Heavens Fall is currently streaming for free (ad-supported) on The Roku Channel.