Gilbert S.

Vasquez 29 November 2020

2020-0002 Atty. Maureen Kaye Patajo

Legal Writing: Review of the movie “True Story”

The film explores the relationship of the two (2) main characters, Michael Finkel portrayed by
actor Johna Hill and Christian Longo, portrayed by James Franco. The former was a journalist from
the New York Times who was fired for wvfriting an inaccurate article. While the latter was accused of
murdering his family and assumed the identity of the former. Their lives crossed after the former
visited the latter in prison. They had an agreement for Michael to write Christian’s side of the story
under the condition that the former will not tell anybody about it until after the trial. This meeting will
eventually lead to the plot of the film with Michael conducting interview with the latter while in prison
and eventually releasing a book as the final output.

In conducting his research, Michael relied on the statements of Christian during their
conversations in prison, video clips of the latter’s family, clips of prison conversation of Christian with
investigator and anecdotes of another reporter. Also, Christian sent his notes Michael on the different
ways he had done wrong. I also observed that Michael appears to have no structured questions to ask
of Christian. Michael should have also presented the perspective of other people to have a complete
picture on the life of Christian. In one scene, Michael was accompanied by the reporter from
Oregonian in visiting the house of Christian. It may be observed that he was not taking notes while the
reporter is sharing critical information about the alleged crime. Lastly, Michael has become attached to
Christian to the point of seeing pararellism with their lives. The former should have focused in telling
the side of Christian objectively and avoiding his own feelings to impact his writing.

In terms of the existence of a confidential relationship between them, it may exists from the
point of view of Christian. There was nothing in the film which would suggest that the latter has
shared to anyone but Michael his story. On the other hand, Michael has recklessly posted his notes on
the walls of his house within his wife to seee. Michael also left a copy of the draft on top of the table.
In one scene, his wife appears to be bothered which may manifest that the latter has becoming affected
by the work of Michael on the story.
 If I am the reporter doing the research, I will have a different handling of the information
gathered. First, I will ensure keeping all materials and documents in a safe and secure repository to
avoid access of other people not privy to my research. Second, I will systematically organize
information for easy retrieval, through proper labeling in a chronological order. Lastly, I will cross-
reference information to other verifiable data to validate for inconsistencies. This is contrary to how
Michael recklessly posted his notes on the walls of his house. Also, it appears that there was no
systematic arrangement of the information he gathered. I think, it is not proper for his wife to have
access to the papers and other records. The latter do not have a complete picture of the writing of
Michael on Christian. Her view might be limited only to those information which she has accessed to.