A quick glance at the cast of In Prison my whole Life and it appears that every American has something to say about the case. One may be surprised to find the likes of philosopher, Noam Chomsky and rap-artist Snoop Dogg in the same film but this simply reaffirms the diverse nature of the debate, which has kept America and arguably the entire world at the edge of their seats for 25-years. Any director willing to make a film about such a delicate and controversial matter would have to have a lot of guts.

Cardiff-born Marc Evans seems an unlikely candidate and admits: “when I started, I didn’t know anything about Abu-Jamal”. It was only after script-writer William Francome, a man who has been obsessed with the Abu-Jamal case after coincidentally being born on the same day he was arrested, showed him a digital movie on the case that he began to form a deeper understanding of the true nature of the American Justice system and got gradually more engrossed by the case. “I was brought up on the American Dream and the civil rights movement” Marc explains “and these were kind of secret histories”.

Evans, renowned for his dark films such as My Little Eye (2002) and Resurrection Man (1998) once said “you don’t choose your films in a strategic or career-minded way. You just find stories that interest you and some get made and some don’t.”

The fact that Francome, a middle-class, Mumia-obsessed white kid was to write the script intrigued Marc. “I saw it as an interesting approach” he says. “It wasn’t really a film that came from me; it was a film that i got involved with and, getting involved, I became very interested.”

Police Corruption

Evans soon found himself entangled in the case and witnessed first-hand, the hostile nature of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). “The FOP is a very politically-strong lobby group in America” Marc explains, “and it is particularly powerful in Philadelphia” he adds. “They’re an intriguing group of people because on the one level they’re very very reciprocal” he states, recalling the time when Abu Jamal had a street named after him in Paris and in response the FOP put Danny Faulkner’s name on a street. “They basically think of Mumia as a cop-killer who is not worthy of anybody’s attention,” he says.

Marc questions whether the police’s uncooperative nature was a result of apathy or policy, but concludes: “my impression is that they have a policy that it’s easier not to talk to people…not to give you the opportunity to get into a conversation with you as some kind of ‘Raving Lefty’ who wants to misquote them or whatever.”

In response I questioned what made him so inclined to believe that Abu-Jamal was indeed innocent, to which he replied: “Amnesty International make a very compelling case for the miscarriage of justice that was his trial.” I probe further and he elaborates: “There’s three things which happened in his trial which I think were indiscreet: There’s how the jury was dealt with, how the jury were told that they wouldn’t really have to worry about the death sentence because he’d have loads of appeals and also the racism of the judge who was a member of the FOP, who said ‘I’m gonna help them find the n**r’”

“So, that is enough of a reason in the first place.” he argues.

Evans believes that parallels can be drawn between this ‘catch the bad guys at whatever cost’ mentality and American films. “If you look at American movies and if you look at what an American hero is for example, much of the time you have this cop, played by Bruce Willis or something, who plays a bit against the rules but ultimately he gets his man” says Marc.

It is this ethos of “I know who the bad guys are and I’m gonna get them and it doesn’t matter if I break the rules a bit”. Marc claims the police have adopted these ideas themselves. “That’s all well and good if you’re always getting the right guy” he says “but if you’re getting the wrong guy…” Evans pauses and begins to ponder for a minute. It appears that the Mumia case has truly become something personal to him.

He continues “I think what happened in Philadelphia in the seventies just became so common place and their way of operating and there is a case to be made to say that the police assumed it was Mumia Abu-Jamal, actually knew it probably really wasn’t and caught him anyway because at the end of the day he was in the category of bad guy.” However, he passionately adds, “You can’t run a country like that!”

Right to a Fair Trial

He emphasises that the film is not about goodies and badies but about everybody’s right to a fair trial. He explains: “the bottom line is a film can’t be a judge and a jury. The primary objective of the film is to say this guy cannot be taken out of context of the situation. Number one: he’s on death row for twenty-five years. Number two: on the basis of a trial that was not fair. In many way, therefore, the guiltiness or innocence of the crime might become secondary.”

When pushed for his own opinion on the case he adds, “if you want my personal opinion I think he’s definitely innocent of first degree murder, which is what he’s been convicted of.”

From what has been said, it appears that the police’s views have been dismissed in the film. So what about the police? Do they not get a chance to say their piece? “I don’t think the film can be completely neutral because of where we’re coming from, but I think in a way, if it was a piece of straight journalism, I don’t think it would stand out” he says. However he reassures that “you have to be open-minded and fair and i think we were very fair given the material we had to work with.”

Having said that, he admits, “there is much more in the film about Mumia’s world than there is about their world”. “But there’s historical facts in there” he adds.

“I am very glad Amnesty are behind it because it makes it easier for the audience to watch a biased film, which it essentially is, but it’s an objectively biased film” he concludes.

It appears that the film is indeed bias but it does not pretend to be anything else. Evans, like many others, has been drawn in by the tragic nature of the case and has emerged backing one side. The controversy surrounding this case will never disappear because both sides are so sure they are right. One cannot bring Faulkner back, neither can Abu-Jamal get back the 25-years he has spent on death row. A clear solution is therefore never possible.

The Welsh premiere of ‘In Prison my Whole Life’ will take place on Thursday March 6, from 6 til 8pm, in room 2.27 of the Law Building on Park Place. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Marc Evans and both are open to all free of charge.