Review – Down Came a Blackbird

This is an interesting perspective on political torture, though a little more focus would have made it a better movie. Laura Dern plays a reporter who was tortured by an unnamed totalitarian regime. Having trouble readjusting to normal life, she decides to do a story about a clinic for people like herself run by a Holocaust survivor (Vanessa Redgrave). And of course she soon finds herself more patient than reporter. That alone probably would have made a reasonably good picture. But then a disturbed-yet-charming professor (Raul Julia) joins the group. Turns out he’s being pursued by a team of mysterious men with guns, which works an unwelcome transformation of the story from psychological drama to cheap thriller. Likewise I didn’t care for the twist at the end. On the other hand, the good parts were reasonably good. Mildly amusing