Koeferl- Presumed Innocent

A major theme in this movie is the justice system. Rusty is convicted of a crime that he did not directly commit, but he finds out at the end of the movie that he is indeed guilty of sparking a chain of events that led to Carolyn's murder. The film challenges us to decide who is guilty and who is innocent. Is Rusty guilty of the murder of Carolyn because he provoked his wife to kill her? Is the wife guilty because she physically murdered her? I think that the wife was put into a very tough situation; she could have talked with Rusty about Carolyn and forced him to stop his affair (and maybe she did, but knew that he still had feelings for her). Perhaps the only way she would ever feel at ease was knowing that Carolyn was dead.

I do not think that anyone is completely innocent in this movie (except the kid, who hasn't grown up yet). The judge and the lawyers are all corrupt somehow, taking bribes and sleeping with Carolyn, etc. Carolyn is certainly not innocent; I consider her the guiltiest of all the characters in the movie. She singlehandedly corrupts two innocent people: Rusty Sabich and his wife. Her actions, rather than Rusty's, cause the chain of events that lead to her own death. She seduces Rusty, a married man, so that she can better her own career. Rusty did not seek out a relationship with Carolyn; she sought after him. Rusty's wife only murdered Carolyn because she was trying to get her husband to love her again. Both Rusty and his wife were acted upon.

Although I see Carolyn as the guilty one in this film, Rusty feels guilty. In the conversation with his wife in the end, he realizes that he is responsible both for damaging his relationship with his wife, and for the murder of Carolyn Polhemus. He seeks punishment for his behavior; in the end this punishment takes the form of having to live the rest of his life knowing that his wife murdered Carolyn, and nobody else will know this (they think that Rusty most likely committed the murder). This final conversation with the wife, along with other final conversations with other characters in the movie, poses the question: was justice served? One way to look at the situation is that it was served; his wife murdered the "destroyer" (home wrecker), which was just, because she was trying to preserve her family. Carolyn died, which is just, because she caused so much corruption within this family. Rusty, who cheated on his wife, now has to live with guilt for the rest of his life. Justice was served, but not in the courtroom.