Incendiary: The Willingham Case

Cameron Todd Willingham was a Texas man who was convicted of setting a blaze in 1991 that killed his three young children, and later executed in 2004. Before he was put to death, questions were raised about whether the incident was arson or merely a terrible accident. Barry Scheck's Innocence Project became involved, as did international fire-science experts Gerald Hurst and John Lentini (all three are among those interviewed here), and the case went on to become a cause célèbre, challenging established methods of determining arson. Although Incendiary sketches Willingham's trial—even defense lawyer David Martin expresses absolute confidence in his client's guilt, despite significant doubts raised about the legal proceedings—the documentary primarily deals with a special panel that Texas set up to investigate suspect convictions (after revelations of misconduct in the Houston crime lab) and the machinations of Governor Rick Perry to short-circuit the committee's work by replacing its chairman with a hard-nosed prosecutor. Whatever one's feelings about Willingham, the overarching issue—as Hurst emphasizes—is how scientific fact is often ignored in favor of baseless opinion even when a man's life is at stake. Directors Steve Mims and Joe Bailey Jr.—inspired by David Grann's 2009 article about Willingham in The New Yorker—don't reach a definitive conclusion, allowing those on both sides (including Willingham's wife, Stacy, who claims he confessed to the crime) to state their opinions. But they have fashioned a provocative, hard-hitting piece of activist filmmaking. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)