Drama,Mystery,Thriller,Crime
United States of America
The Pelican Brief is a legal thriller film released in 1993, based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. The movie is directed by Alan J. Pakula and stars Julia Roberts as law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as investigative journalist Gray Grantham.
The story begins with the assassination of two Supreme Court Justices, which shocks the political establishment and creates a power vacuum in the highest court of the land. Darby is a brilliant law student who decides to write a brief as a hypothetical exercise, where she speculates on who might have been responsible for the murders. In her brief, Darby identifies a shadowy cabal of powerful businessmen who have a vested interest in the outcome of Supreme Court cases.
Unbeknownst to Darby, her theory turns out to be true, and the assassins are now after her to prevent her from exposing them. They kill her professor, who was the only other person who knew about her brief, and then attempt to assassinate her as well. Darby flees to New Orleans, where she meets Grantham, a journalist who is interested in her story. Together they try to unravel the mystery, but find themselves being chased by the bad guys with no one to turn to for help.
As the plot thickens, we learn that the assassination has been orchestrated by a wealthy businessman named Victor Mattiece, who is trying to secure a Supreme Court ruling that will allow him to drill for oil in a wildlife refuge in Louisiana. The plan involves bribing the judges, which is why Mattiece has taken out the Justices. Darby and Grantham eventually prove Mattiece's guilt, with the help of an inside man who was being blackmailed by the cabal.
The Pelican Brief is a riveting legal thriller with excellent performances from Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. It is also a story about the power of the press and the importance of the free press in a democratic society.
