If you have ever read or viewed the works of David Simon, you will know that Simon does not have a lot of confidence in institutions. Simon is most known for The Wire, the HBO show that ran from 2002 to 2008 and highlighted institutional failure over many industries in Baltimore. On The Wire (this sentence and the next contains spoilers for The Wire, but your friends should have pressured you to watch it by now), every character with an outside-the-box idea to curb the drug trade in West Baltimore is met with scorn or discipline (think Bunny Colvin). In addition, Tommy Carcetti becomes mayor of Baltimore by decrying statistics-based policing, but embraces those same metrics (and puts his own political aspirations ahead of improving the city) once in office. Those themes are equally front and center in Simon’s latest work, the six-part HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero, which tackles the public housing controversy in Yonkers, New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead of cops and criminals, though, Show Me a Hero focuses heavily on the Yonkers government’s attempt to a comply with a housing desegregation order issued by a federal judge (this column will contain mild spoilers up through Parts 3 and 4, which aired on August 23; Parts 5 and 6 air this Sunday).
Show Me a Hero is adapted by Simon and journalist William F. Zorzi from a book by Lisa Belkin, and is directed by Paul Haggis (don’t worry, Show Me a Hero is nothing like Crash). It stars Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicsko, elected in 1987 as the youngest big-city mayor in the nation. Wasicsko initially capitalizes on a wave of unhappiness by certain Yonkers residents regarding the federal court desegregation order issued by S.D.N.Y. Judge Leonard Sand (Bob Balaban), which requires Yonkers to build roughly 200 public housing units on the east side of the city (i.e., the predominantly white side). Wasicsko’s main campaign platform is that the city’s incumbent mayor Angelo Martinelli (Jim Belushi, who is surprisingly good!) failed to support an appeal of the ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. However, once in office, the appeal fails, and Wasicsko is forced to rally support around the desegregation plan or risk the wrath of Judge Sand. Tired of seeing Yonkers drag its feet, Judge Sand gives the city an ultimatum that it pass a specific housing plan by a certain date or else it will be forced to pay extremely large fines that threaten to bankrupt Yonkers. Wasicsko becomes the reluctant champion of the housing plan in order to comply with Judge Sand’s directive, but faces staunch opposition by City Council members such as the slimy Henry Spallone (a scenery-chewing Alfred Molina).
As a lawyer, one of the most interesting elements of Show Me a Hero is seeing Simon’s ethos being applied to the federal justice system, as emblemized by Judge Sand. Judge Sand’s motives are surely sound; as a judge, he issued an order mandating that public housing be built on one side of the city, and he expects the city to comply with it. Judge Sand even says, “Our object is not to create martyrs or heroes. Our object is to get this housing built.” However, Judge Sand – who does not live in Yonkers – is borderline indifferent to the political and racial firestorm that he has caused or the reality of what bankrupting the city will due to hundreds of municipal employees. His “my way or the highway” approach (which is sufficient in almost every other case he oversees as a judge) is insufficiently nuanced to solve this problem.
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In one telling scene, Judge Sand sits with Oscar Newman (Peter Riegert), the court-appointed housing advisor to Yonkers, in an attempt to decide where to build some of the public housing units after one of the sites falls through. The judge seems keen on merely increasing the number of units in one particular section of Yonkers. However, Newman criticizes this proposed plan, as internal spaces within public housing are the cause of the drug dealing and other criminal activity that plague many public housing units. Accordingly, despite Judge Sand’s best efforts to “get this housing built,” his desegregation order by itself is not sufficient to cause meaningful change.
I have never had a case before Judge Sand (who currently has senior status on the S.D.N.Y.), but Balaban’s genial but firm portrayal of Sand is realistic, as it reminds me of other judges. Moreover, the portrayal of the oral arguments before Judge Sand avoids the histrionics that characterize many courtroom scenes in fiction.
Even though he is not the centerpiece of the legal scenes, Isaac is fantastic as Wasicsko, portraying the mayor as steadfast and firm in his beliefs behind closed doors, but as boyishly afraid when having to face the irate citizens of Yonkers during City Council meetings. In one harrowing scene, Wasicsko and his wife Nay (Carla Quevado) attempt to drive their car out of city hall through an angry mob. The look of abject terror on Isaac’s and Quevado’s faces – as the mob pounds on the car windows – is scarier than any similar scene on The Walking Dead (and not just because Walking Dead veteran Jon Bernthal is in the cast of Show Me a Hero as one of the NAACP attorneys).
Isaac – who previously starred in Inside Llewyn Davis and A Most Violent Year – is one of the best young actors working today. However, I am a bit worried that Isaac is being swallowed up by the blockbuster industrial complex, as he is set to star in the next Star Wars and X-Men films. I hope he takes more roles like Wasicsko, instead of having to spend a lifetime answering questions about whether Han or Greedo shot first or why his X-Men character looks like Ivan Ooze from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (seriously, look it up).
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Over the past two weeks, when I have recommended Show Me a Hero to my friends, I always tell them to look past the weird title (which is taken from a F. Scott Fitzgerald quote) and the heavy focus on housing law. With a dearth of quality television in these summer doldrums (except for Mr. Robot; as I said last week, you need to watch Mr. Robot), Show Me a Hero is definitely worth watching.
Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.