Recommending "A Time to Kill" (book'92, movie'96)

I read the book a long time ago (I think), and just saw the 1996 movie adaptation for the first time after finding it on my Dad's DVD shelf when I visited my folks last week.

There's a few parts where the melodrama gets a bit thick and the plot plausibility gets a bit thin, but overall the movie is a very powerful legal thriller that brings the tragedy of Deep South racism to life though the rape of a young black girl and the murder trial of her father (Samuel Jackson) who refused to trust the justice of the Mississippi courts for trying whites and took things into his own hands--and the sympathetic small time local white lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) who takes the case to defend him. Scenes of the KKK protesting the trial and harassing/killing those who help the black defendant are particularly provocative.

Having a young daughter of my own, I toy with the question. If my daughter were raped and killed by a bunch of thugs, and I knew they would basically get away with a light sentence, would I take matters into my own hands? Or, would I forgive and forget and turn the other cheek, as the Christian upbringing in me (which I value highly) would prefer. Is the law always just, or is there a time to kill?

At the same time, I somewhat share the criticism of Jonathan Rosenbaum, who commented: "A Time to Kill argues for vigilantism but disguises its message by making the vigilante black, allowing viewers to think their blood lust and thirst for revenge is actually empathy for the oppressed." (qtd from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_to_Kill_(film))

As original author Grisham himself rated it, "It is not a great movie, but a good one."