72 Stunden - The Next Three Days (The Nex Three Days) 
U.S.A./France
2010
Opening 20 Jan 2011
Directed by:
Paul Haggis
Writing credits:
Paul Haggis, Fred Cavayé, Guillaume Lemans
Principal actors:
Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Buie, Moran Atias, Remy Nozik
You are helpless, imagine this, your spouse is convicted of murdering her boss using circumstantial evidence, but you know she could never have done it despite the evidence. What would you do? John Brennen (Russell Crowe), a professor at a Pittsburgh local junior college, tries everything to get his wife, Lara Brennen (Elizabeth Banks), out of jail, pursuing all legal options until all hope is lost, and he is told that she will spend the rest of her days in prison. This thriller movie by Paul Haggis (director and screenplay writer) is the story of a close and loving family with a young son, torn apart and struggling to find some sort of normalcy, challenging the evidence and the system to get her out. All the while both John and Lara fall apart – John falls deeper into depression and Lara attempts suicide.
After losing hope that Lara (Banks) would ever get out of jail, John (Crowe), decides there is no option, he must break her out of jail himself. John meets with a former criminal (cameo by Liam Neeson), who had successfully broken out of prison, under the guise of interviewing him and received general advice on what would happen during and after a breakout. John uses the info he gained, gets a gun, and watches videos on line to help him to devise a plan to get Lara out of jail and run away with the family. John acts on his master plan and puts his house on the market to get money, but he also has to enter the crime world, shoot others in the process and be willing to leave family members to make the plan successful. The movie spells out many of the details so you are not kept in total suspense, but at the same time it manages to keep you intrigued with the action and pace of the movie while making you ask yourself, “What would I do in these same circumstance?” (Brenda Anderson-Rivera)
