TEHRAN – “And Justice for All”, a 1979 American legal comedy-drama directed by Norman Jewison, will be reviewed at the Iranian Artists Forum on Monday.

Film critic and lawyer Javad Tusi will attend a screening and the review of the film to talk about restorative justice.

Restorative justice refers to “an approach to justice that seeks to repair harm by providing an opportunity for those harmed and those who take responsibility for the harm to communicate about and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime.”

Starring Al Pacino, Jack Warden and John Forsythe, the film written by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson was nominated for an Oscar in the screenplay category. It also received an Academy Award nomination for Pacino in the best leading actor category.

In this film, a lawyer is forced to defend a guilty judge, while defending other innocent clients, and trying to find punishment for the guilty and provide justice for the innocent.

Produced on a modest budget of $4 million, “And Justice for All” grossed over $33.3 million in North America, making it the 24th highest-grossing film of 1979.

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, earning an 82 percent rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews. 

The website’s consensus reads, “A volcanic Al Pacino holds court in this histrionic legal drama, the star grounding a tonally imbalanced script with the conviction of his impassioned performance.”

In the book “The Late Show”, Brian W. Fairbanks called the film’s screenplay “overly contrived”, despite Pacino’s “trademark” phrase in the courtroom.

Zagat gave the film 23 of 30 possible points overall; the quality of acting a score of 26 out of 30, and story and production 22 each, where 20 to 25 represents “very good to excellent”; 26 to 30 “extraordinary to perfection”. 

The Empire magazine called it a “solid but slightly clichéd courtroom drama” and rated it three stars out of five.

Photo: A scene from the legal comedy-drama “And Justice for All”.

MMS/YAW