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Arthouse films

August 3, 2007
""The Trials of Darryl Hunt""
Darryl Hunt, then 19, was convicted of the Aug. 10, 1984, rape and stabbing death of Deborah Sykes in Winston-Salem, N.C. Four years into his life sentence, he was retried and reconvicted. Another four years passed. Then DNA tests indicated he's innocent. Yet Hunt stayed in prison for another nine years -- until another man confessed.

As a true-life tragedy, ""The Trials of Darryl Hunt"" is a case of diligent reportage by co-directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. As an indictment of an injustice -- with overtones of lynching -- it is less effective. A DNA test can exonerate a falsely accused rapist, but there's no DNA test to indict his prosecutors as racists. One piece of unfinished business is Hunt's statement under oath that a white district attorney offered him $12,000 to lie that another black man killed the white victim.

Backed by HBO and the Foundation for a Fairer Capitalism, Stern and Sundberg take no stylistic chances in their follow-up to ""In My Corner"" (a documentary about teenage boxers in the South Bronx). Here the filmmakers use incessant zooms into mug shots, court transcripts and newspaper clippings.

Prime-time TV true-crime formula also dictates background music in the key of dread. It takes more than sitar twangs scored by composer Paul Brill to do justice to Hunt's story.

The state of North Carolina apologized, in effect, to the tune of $385,545. That's how the film ended when it screened last fall at the Chicago International Film Festival. An updated ending now notes the city of Winston-Salem has given Hunt $1.65 million for his troubles.

No MPAA rating. Running time: 113 minutes. Opening today at Facets Cinematheque.

Bill Stamets is a Chicago free-lance writer and critic.