Psychology technique · used in 9 films
Putting an innocent person under blame or suspicion and showing the damage it does to them and those near them. The accusation distorts the community's judgment.
Examples
Billy Wilder · 1953
Sefton trades openly with the guards, so everyone decides he must be the informant. You are tempted to agree, which makes the men's cruelty feel closer to home.
Where to see it: The beating: After the radio is confiscated and the camp commandant arrests Dunbar, the men blame Sefton again and beat him.
Alfred Hitchcock · 1956
The crisis breaks Manny's wife Rose as much as it threatens him. She loses her grip on reality and is institutionalized. Even after Manny is cleared, she stays unresponsive, and the film shows the cost.
Where to see it: Rose's breakdown. Rose suffers a psychotic break and is sent to an institution, while Manny's legal troubles continue.
Carol Reed · 1968
Oliver is accused of a theft he did not commit. The accusation turns a crowd on him, and he is only saved when a stranger, Mr. Brownlow, takes him in. Fear of being blamed follows him afterward.
Where to see it: The bookstall. Oliver is wrongly accused of picking a pocket and is taken in by Mr. Brownlow.
Steven Spielberg · 1971
Under pressure, Mann convinces himself he has found the driver in a diner. He confronts the wrong man and gets beaten. It shows how fear can twist a good man's judgment.
Where to see it: The diner scene. Mann confronts a patron he thinks is the truck driver, and gets into a fight he loses.
Clint Eastwood · 2008
Christine is accused of being a bad mother, then of being delusional. The press story calls her unfit, and she is committed to a hospital for challenging the police. The blame falls on a woman who did nothing wrong.
Where to see it: Psychiatric ward: after Christine tells her story to the press, Captain Jones has her committed to the psychiatric ward. Dr. Steele says he will release her only if she signs an admission that she was mistaken about Walter.
Bong Joon-ho · 2009
Do-joon is arrested on thin evidence, and the police push him into a confession. His mother is the only person who believes him. The pressure shows how quickly a town decides who is guilty.
Where to see it: The arrest of Do-joon. After Ah-jung is found dead, the police take him in and he signs a confession.
Thomas Vinterberg · 2012
Klara's first statement is vague and hesitant, and an adult's leading question shapes it. By the time it has spread through the town, it has become certain, detailed and impossible to challenge. The film never suggests that children lie. It looks at how adults take a child's words and turn them into something else.
Where to see it: The counselor's interview with Klara. You watch the leading questions come first. Then the adult confirms what the child only tentatively offered.
Clint Eastwood · 2016
A hero is now told he may have made a mistake. Sully fears pilot error will destroy his reputation and career. The pressure falls on his family too, as the press hounds them.
Where to see it: NTSB meeting: preliminary data suggest the left engine was still at idle power and the NTSB says simulations show he could have landed at an airport. Sully and Jeff insist otherwise.
Clint Eastwood · 2019
Jewell did the right thing and is punished for it. The FBI decides he fits the profile of a loner who wants to be a hero, and the media follows. Pressure lands on him and his mother.
Where to see it: Naming a suspect: after the bombing, Jewell is heralded as a hero. The FBI determines that as a white male wanna-be police officer he fits the profile, and the front page names him a suspect.
Questions