Lawyer’s View of ‘Hurricane’ Was Self-Serving

The morning after the Golden Globe Awards, we, the filmmakers of “The Hurricane,” awoke to find that The Times had printed a biased, self-serving letter from a lawyer named Lewis Steel, a disgruntled member of Rubin Carter’s and John Artis’ legal team. This letter was not printed in the “letters to the editor” or “Counterpunch” sections, as personal opinion, but rather in the Calendar section, as if it were a well-researched, investigative report.

It wasn’t. The letter was a deliberate attempt to distort and misrepresent our film by a man who is seeking self-promotion.

The story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter has been debated for nearly 35 years. It continues to be controversial. Many people have opinions about Carter and Artis, but few have the facts.

Steel is disgruntled because he was not mentioned in our film. Of all the attorneys who have been directly involved in Carter’s case, no one has felt compelled to speak out against our film except this man. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The people whom our story is about have embraced our film and its noble themes--the celebration of the human spirit and the triumph of love over hate.

At the heart of Steel’s criticism of “The Hurricane” are two points:

1) We gave a group of Canadians too much credit for helping Carter win his freedom.

2) We didn’t make a strong enough case that racism and a corrupt criminal justice system brought Carter down.

We urge Steel to read his own words in a 1992 Sports Illustrated article, in which he credited the Canadians for being like “another high-powered legal firm coming onto the case.” What they did follows:

* Prepared the first comprehensive chart detailing the changing testimony of key witnesses.

* Provided the “jump start” of the appeal to the federal court.

* Uncovered proof that the time of the crime was changed through forgery by the lead detective in the case, and verified this forgery through analysis of five handwriting experts.

* Tracked down and interviewed a cabdriver discovered by Carter’s cousin who placed Carter in a club at the time the murders were committed.

* Found witnesses who corroborated the cabdriver’s story in affidavits.

* Provided an ironclad alibi for Carter and Artis based on this evidence.

* Found and interviewed Louise Cockersham, who confirmed that her husband saw the gunmen fleeing the scene, knew them and told police they were not Carter and Artis.

* Found black patrons of the bar, demolishing the state’s theory that the assault was out of revenge because the bar did not serve blacks.

This group of Canadians did what neither Steel nor anyone of us would have done: They set aside their own lives for years to right the wrongs that were done to John Artis and Rubin Carter.

As to Steel’s point that our film does not make it clear that a corrupt criminal system brought Carter down, we wonder if Steel saw our film: If he had, his conclusion would be impossible.

Lastly, we agree with Steel’s point that we should have told more story. We wish we could have, but that would have been impossible without it being a five- or six-hour movie.

We worked closely with the principals involved in Carter’s case. We worked closely with Carter’s lead attorneys, the judge who freed him, the Canadians, Lesra Martin and, more important, Carter and Artis--and they all have embraced the film, and its message, the triumph of love over hate--as being true to the spirit of their shared struggle.

“The Hurricane” is not a history lesson. Instead, it sets out to present a story of hope, friendship, selflessness and personal renewal. That is what the movie is about. What Steel fails to acknowledge is the power and beauty of our film. We were the third film ever to be asked to screen at the United Nations. The film was received with a standing ovation. Millions of moviegoers throughout the country have celebrated the triumph of this film.

We have been honest and honorable in our storytelling, and we presented our film as a torch that a civil rights lawyer like Lewis Steel should hold proudly in his hands, rather than condemn us for not including him.

Armyan Bernstein is a producer and co-writer of “The Hurricane”; Norman Jewison is a producer and the film’s director; Rudy Langlais is an executive producer; John Ketcham is a producer.

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