Morgenthau

Max Lewkowicz's documentary begins and ends as a portrait of Robert M. Morgenthau, who served as District Attorney of New York County from 1975-2009, and even in retirement remains active in promoting a variety of causes. In extensive interviews, Morgenthau offers autobiographical recollections, talking about his childhood, naval service in World War II (during which he nearly lost his life), and refusal to resign as U.S. Attorney for New York after the election of Richard Nixon in 1969, despite pressure from the new administration. Morgenthau also discusses some of his most notable prosecutions, such as the 1991 fraud case against the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (which implicated some important political figures), and the 1989 “Central Park Jogger” case, in which five teens were convicted but the convictions were later vacated with Morgenthau's controversial assent. The middle of the film, however, goes back in time to depict the careers of his grandfather, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., who as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire vigorously protested the Armenian genocide despite the Wilson administration's muted policy on the issue, and his father, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., who as Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of the Treasury spearheaded the effort to save Jews threatened by the Holocaust, despite State Department opposition. Drawing on a wide array of archival material and interviews with scholars, journalists, politicians, relatives, and friends, Morgenthau presents an engaging portrait of three generations of a family that took principled stands during careers of public service. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)