The film A Time to Kill has a plethora of examples of the invocation of empathy, whether real or apparent. While some scenes display this invocation clearly, like Jake’s closing statement scene, others go about it in a more subtle, rather impactful way. Rather than inspiring apparent empathy openly, these scenes both pull on the heartstrings as well as challenge the foundation of one’s character as the real empathy that is invoked also draws forth guilt.
In a particular scene, Jake visits Carl Lee in jail to give him bad news regarding the outlook of the trial. Jake tells Carl that they are going to lose the case, “there are no more points of law to argue” and he wants to move forward to reach a plea deal (TK 2:08:45-2:08:57). He continues to explain that the jury needs to identify with the defendant, and at the moment they could not relate at all with Carl Lee. “We are not the same Carl Lee… They see you they see a yard worker, they see me they see an attorney,” Jake elaborates. However, Carl Lee quickly responds, “you white and I’m black” (TK 2:09:12-2:09:30). This response was the initial shattering of the unspoken divide between these two characters. Throughout the film, the viewer sees Jake Brigance as a sort of hero. He repeatedly reminds himself that amidst all of the racial turmoil that the case has catalyzed, he is one of the ‘good guys’. The viewer carries this idea of Jake and his team until this scene. Carl Lee realizes in this moment, Jake has no idea who he is or why he was chosen for this difficult task.
In order to make Jake understand, Carl Lee reveals the truth behind his choosing Jake to defend him. “You’re just like them, don’t you see?” Carl Lee asks (TK 2:09:39-2:09:45). He continues, explaining to Jake that they never walk the same streets and their children will never play together. When it all comes down to it, “America is a war, and you’re [Jake] on the other side.” No matter how many times Jake eats at ‘Claud’s’ and no matter what he says about the ideal of not seeing color in society, Jake is one of the bad guys. “No matter how you see me [Carl Lee] you see me as different” (TK 2:11:02-2:11:09).
This comes as a shock to Jake and the viewer alike. We feel a new level of real empathy for Carl Lee as we realize that even the white people that are there to help him cannot help but see him for what he is on the outside, not a man, a black man. A new, more authentic view of Calr Lee’s predicament is exposed as he asks, “how a black man ever gone get a fair trial with the enemy on the bench, in the jury box…?”. In reality, his life is in “white hands” (TK 2:10:35-2:10:45). This statement allows the Jake and the viewer to see the trial and the world from Carl Lee’s eyes. His only chance to be set free is to use one of the ‘bad guys’ to relate to the enemies deciding his fate.
This real empathy extends to Jake as well. He realizes that all this time he struggled to feel true empathy for Carl Lee, instead he had felt pity, and a selfish guilt for having not stopped the crime. Now, Jake sees himself in a new light. He went from having to reassure himself that he was the ‘good guy’, to being exposed as the ‘bad guy’ that he has been his entire life. This harsh exposure allowed him to feel real empathy for Carl Lee and thus devise a plan to draw that same empathy from the jurors the next day. Carl Lee has no problem telling Jake the truth. If it meant that he would be set free, he was willing to shatter Jake’s unrealistic view of himself. In doing so, he allows Jake to truly empathize with him and in turn feel guilty for struggling to feel real empathy for so long.
Works Cited
A Time to Kill. Dir. Joel Schumacher. Warner Bros., 1996. Swank Motion Pictures. Web. 21 September 2017