American Violet

A docudrama with a good heart but a heavy hand, American Violet isn’t shrinking. Changing the names of the people and town involved, the third film by Tim Disney (Walt’s great-nephew) recounts the true story of Dee (Nicole Beharie), an African-American single mother of four living in a Texas housing project, who’s erroneously swept up in a drug raid. Her mom (Alfre Woodard) begs her to plead guilty and avoid prison, but Dee is convinced by an ACLU lawyer (Tim Blake Nelson) and a local attorney (Will Patton) to sue the bigoted district attorney (Michael O’Keefe). Mostly solid performances and admirable attention to detail about legal proceedings forcefully convey Disney and writer-producer Bill Haney’s outrage over this nation’s virulently racist “war” on drugs, though “The truth shall set you free” need not have been said so frequently.