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The Killing Yards Q&A with Euzhan Palcy
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Sins of the Father, Robert Dornhelm's provocative, raw story about one man's courage to do the right thing, was screened at the DGA in June and followed by a Q&A with the director and lead actor Tom Sizemore and moderated by DGA member Carl Weathers.
After 37 years of silence, a dutiful son, Tom Cherry, gave grand jury testimony against his father, Bobby Frank Cherry, which helped convict him of the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four young African-American girls were killed.
Dornhelm and Sizemore were initially concerned that the film, which finished shooting two weeks before 9/11, would be shelved. Much to everyone's surprise, FX not only did not shelve the project, but pushed for its release. With flashbacks that are achieved with a desaturation of color, Sins of the Father is in part a period piece, but the theme — that hate kills and that the courageous must rise to the challenge — is timeless.
Romanian born, Dornhelm was worried at first about directing such an American story but felt he could help send an important message: "Racism exists within ourselves and hate is everywhere. We all need to be on alert to find the demon within ourselves and eradicate it before we look for a new world order."
Dornhelm utilized his background in documentaries to tell the story from Bobby and Tom Cherry's point of view, letting the camera go where he went while he remained an observer. "For me, as a Jew, it was like inviting a Nazi into my home," he said. "But I think we can all learn something from the enemy, and this story is best told from the racist's point of view. Once we see it from their perspective, we can illuminate why they were the way they were."
Dornhelm wasn't interested in the political correctness of the movie. "I wanted the truth of what it was like for a child to have to betray the trust of a father to break the chain of violence. It's a great challenge and responsibility to deal with racism and hatred in a medium that must, by definition, entertain."
On every project Dornhelm directs, he works very closely with the screenwriter to shape the material. Two of Dornhelm's pieces are presently up for Humanitas Awards, Sins of the Father and the ABC miniseries, Anne Frank, for which he also received an Emmy nomination. His next project is RFK, also for FX.
–Julie Robinson
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