Allison growing up poor in Oklahoma mattered little to the media. In this movie, the media fascination is derived from the 'rich' entitled American white girl brutally murdering her minority working class lesbian lover (a textbook Hollywood rendering). The differences being that was Italy, this is France and it was Amanda's roommate, not lover. You likely noticed the similarities to the 2007 Amanda Knox case. Allison asks her father to deliver a sealed letter to her attorney claiming there is new evidence in her case - she heard a guy named Akim had bragged at a party about committing Lina's murder. We later learn that Bill previously struggled with drugs and alcohol and never received votes for Father of the Year. Although they hug on the visits, a definite chasm exists. Her father visits regularly, delivering supplies and clean laundry.
In a highly publicized trial, Allison held fast to her claim of innocence, and still does. She's been incarcerated for five years after being found guilty of stabbing her French-Arab lover, Lina, to death. Not long after, he's on an international flight to Marseille to visit his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin). Oscar winner Matt Damon plays Bill Baker, a quiet out of work oil worker whom we first see on a clean-up crew after a disastrous tornado. Despite all that, I connected with the story, not as a thriller, but rather as a character study of a flawed man trying to do the right thing by his daughter and find redemption for himself. And yes, this film is billed as a crime thriller, but you should know, we see very little crime, and the thrills are mostly non-existent. In fact, this father has his own particular set of skills: he's a master at carpentry and electrical, he speaks the Oklahoma version of English, and he owns two guns (neither of which he has with him).
It's understandable if you are taken in by a trailer that hints at a movie featuring an unknown dad going non-stop in cold pursuit of justice for his daughter (those numerous Liam Neeson references were for my own pleasure).
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