JIM reviews “AMERICAN VIOLET” – This 'flower' DOESN’T shrink (from confrontations)

“AMERICAN VIOLET” – This ‘flower’ DOESN’T shrink (from confrontations) = Rating: 7 of 10 stars.

(Per an advance preview:) Time and again, we’ve seen high-profile elected officials do things to try to ‘LOOK good’ to the majority in order to further their personal agenda (which often involves doing ‘whatever it takes’ [no matter how illegal or morally wrong] to get re-elected). That’s the story here, based on a true event in 2000, which chronicles a racist white Texas District Attorney (played by MICHAEL O’KEEFE) who works to target BLACKS he could harass & jail. An unmarried African-American woman waitress (strongly played by NICOLE BEHARIE) is unjustly accused by his office of being a drug dealer. Disinterested white legal reps urge her to accept a “plea bargain” (which like 90% of jailed Americans do rather than go thru a trial by their peers). Her mother (ALFRE WOODARD) urges her to accept that ‘easy’ way out of her troubles. But, supported by an ACLU rep (TIM BLAKE NELSON) and a local white lawyer (WILL PATTON), she works to try to STOP the bigoted pursuit of blacks by the D.A. and his police cohorts. It’s a well-acted, encouraging and uplifting look at some of the slow-moving periodic (fits-&-stops) progress in America.