Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer

(NOTE: I first saw this movie at a special sneak-preview screening back in February in Arlington Heights, Illinois. I wrote my thoughts on it back then, but since the film is getting a theatrical release this weekend, I'm just sharing them now.)

As we get full-steam into Oscar season and people are rightfully lining up to see some of the year's best movies like First Man (which I hear is superb) and A Star is Born (which I know is superb), oftentimes there are much smaller films with smaller marketing budgets and theatrical releases that fly very under-the-radar. Such is the case with veteran character-actor Nick Searcy's second directorial effort Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer (his only other directorial effort, Carolina Low, made some waves in the mid-90s), which appropriately enough is based on a true story that flew very under the radar earlier this decade. For those who don't know, Kermit Gosnell is a former abortionist who operated an abortion facility in Philadelphia for over three decades, and in 2013 was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants who were born alive during late-term abortions and involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman during a botched abortion, although the 280-page grand jury report found that Gosnell had "routinely delivered babies alive, cut their necks with scissors, and stuffed their bodies in freezers and jars."

If you read that above sentence and are shocked that you had never heard of this story before, you have good reason to be. As this film shows a lot in its second-half, there was a large reluctance in the mainstream media to report on the Gosnell case, for really no other reason other than the fact that it was an "abortion doctor" on trial, and it didn't fit the narrative many people have of "safe and legal abortion," despite the fact that the abortions Dr. Gosnell performed were neither safe nor entirely legal (he was also convicted of 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion). But, contrary to what you might believe given the current climate, this film isn't interested in political grandstanding. At its core is a deeply compelling true-crime story that shows both Gosnell's horrific crimes and the general public's willful ignorance to them with almost-equal disgust but without really resorting to preaching, and it will leave you with much to think about regardless of your views on abortion.

The film opens like a typical police procedural, with Detective James Wood (played by Dean Cain) working with the DEA and the District Attorney's "Dangerous Drug-Offender Unit" on a drug-trafficking investigation in late 2009. Following reports of illegal prescription drug activity coming from Dr. Gosnell's facility, he and the rest of his assembled team quickly learn about Gosnell's disgustingly unsafe and unsanitary operation, with the nail in the coffin being that a woman named Karnamaya Mongar had recently died following a botched abortion and no police report was ever filed on it. With this, along with numerous other health and medical concerns, Wood and his assembled team raid Gosnell's facility and find a quite-literal house of horrors. In addition to blood-stained floors and cat feces lying around, perhaps the most haunting thing that the team finds on this raid is the remains of aborted babies, most aborted illegally after 24 weeks gestation, in bags, milk jugs, cat-food containers, or stuffed in freezers. In one particularly horrifying moment, the investigators find a row of jars containing severed feet from aborted babies, practically on display. And all of this is real, and is detailed quite graphically in the actual grand jury report of this case.

One of Gosnell's victims

Horrified and disgusted by Gosnell's practice, Wood successfully encourages Assistant District Attorney Lexy McGuire (played by Sarah Jane Morris) to pursue murder charges against Gosnell (played by Earl Billings). After a nearly year-long investigation, Gosnell, his wife, and other clinic employees are charged with murder and various other felonies. Once Gosnell pleads not guilty and enlists a ruthless attorney (played effectively by Nick Searcy himself) to defend him, the trial begins.

And this is where the film becomes particularly interesting and, in many ways, self-aware. Numerous people that McGuire comes across, including Philadelphia D.A. Dan Molinari (played by Michael Beach), attempt to dissuade her from taking up this case, saying that the pro-choice media will vilify her and that pro-life groups and lobbyists will attempt to use this case as an excuse to successfully work towards outlawing abortion. As the trial itself gets underway, we learn that Pennsylvania's former governor Tom Ridge (a pro-choice Republican) had specifically ordered inspections of all of the state's abortion facilities to cease due to fears of them creating "a barrier to women seeking abortion services." The judge in the case proceeds with caution for a similar reason, not wanting the trial to become about the legality of abortion.

But one of the most shocking things about the proceedings, as I hinted at above, is the almost complete lack of attention it got from the mainstream media. As McGuire and Wood and the D.A. are headed to the courtroom, they're preparing themselves to be swarmed by reporters, only to find empty rows of seats in the courtroom that had been reserved the press. Blogger Molly Mullaney (played in a small but memorable role by Cyrina Fiallo) at one point during the trial takes a picture of the empty press seats and tweets it, causing it to go viral which results in major reporters finally showing up as the trial draws to a close.

The empty rows of seats reserved for the press at Gosnell's trial

And in terms of recent true-crime movies that I've seen, this is definitely one of the most impressive of the lot, especially considering the low-budget, which admittedly can sometimes make it seem a bit like a TV-movie. But director Searcy, who's clearly learned from some of the top filmmakers working today (in addition to his role on the TV show Justified, he was in two of last year's major Oscar movies, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), handles this material with great restraint and integrity, especially in regards to the performances. Searcy is very much an actor's director, and while there really aren't any name actors in this movie, he still manages to get impressive performances out of pretty much all of them.

Sarah Jane Morris, who effectively becomes the film's protagonist once she decides to pursue the charges against Gosnell, embodies her role convincingly and shows her character's struggle with the moral and ethical implications of this case in a subtle but deeply effective manner. Similarly, Dean Cain is well-suited for the role of a Philadelphia police detective and, despite a few forced acting moments, is pretty strong throughout, especially during the raid of Gosnell's clinic. His facial reactions to the horror inside the clinic are some of his particularly strong moments.

But perhaps the most haunting and powerful performance in the whole film is Earl Billings as Gosnell himself. The moments, especially early on, with him and the investigators are actually really unsettling. And having heard some tapes of Gosnell himself speaking, Billings definitely nailed the sociopathic aspects of his character and speech patterns down to a T. It's clear that Gosnell truly believes he did nothing wrong, and even as he's being criminally investigated and convicted, he still keeps a smile on his face and cracks jokes, which of course makes it easy for any actor to portray this character like a cliche villain, but Billings thankfully doesn't do that. In fact, he gives one of the most chilling villain performances I've seen all year.

Earl Billings as Kermit Gosnell

All of this is aided by a well-written screenplay from Andrew Klavan and husband-and-wife writing/producing duo Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney that sticks almost entirely to the facts of this story without making it an "agenda" film. And when it does sometimes get a little heavy-handed, especially when addressing the mainstream media's effective "blackout" of the Gosnell trial, it does it in a way that's unmistakably sincere and effective. Now, as I hinted at previously, there are times throughout the film where it can't really help but feel like a TV-movie or an extended episode of Law & Order, particularly during the trial scenes. And as with most films of this type, there are certain (mainly technical) things that probably could have been fixed with a bigger budget and more prep-time, but Searcy impressively manages to maneuver around most of them and ends up with a very impressively-made film as a result.

I know there's probably a lot of people who won't see this film for the simple reason that they think it's "anti-choice propaganda," especially given that the film was written, directed, and stars people who generally lean conservative and pro-life. And I will admit, going into this movie, I was worried that it wasn't going to be that good quality-wise (especially given that I had recently seen the painfully bad pro-life movie "Alison's Choice" on Amazon Prime), but Searcy and the whole team behind this movie really proved me wrong. This is a very impressive film about a deeply important story that should shock and enlighten everyone regardless of whether they're pro-life or pro-choice. 

And if this movie has a "message" outside of telling this true-crime story as it actually happened, it's this: preventing criminals like Kermit Gosnell from harming women and children is something that should unite everyone regardless of their stance on abortion or their political affiliation. For that alone, I would highly recommend that everybody seek this movie out.