Apologies through Law and Cinema

Some recent interdisciplinary studies focused on the broad and multifaceted relationship between law and cinema. I found particularly interesting that the so called “legal movies“ can help to understand aspects frequently overlooked in classical legal reasoning. By focusing on different points of view on historical and cultural backgrounds the movie’s eye can help to develop a critical and realistic look over the dynamics of legal proceedings. Often is pointed out how bad is relying on adversary systems and litigation formalism rather than on pro-empathetic, pragmatic behaviors and mediation goals. For example, some films show vividly the need of taking apologies seriously in addressing legal disputes, underlining the concrete role of apologies in rebuilding broken relationships. I’ve highlighted some recurring themes such as the remedial function of apologies, their ability to mitigate the feelings of revenge fed by the victim, and, as a consequence, their capacity to repair harms to dignity and to address emotional damages. Specularly the hardest part for the wrongdoer could be the acknowledgement of his errors as well as the resistance of lawyers in considering not only the negative hazardous aspects of apologies, but also the positive ones.