UnLucky Strike

THE LEGACY IS AN OFTEN FRUSTRATING FILM. Again and again over the course of an hour, the viewer watches helplessly as high emotion and misinformation lead to terrible lawmaking. Audiences who have seen the film, Moore said in a recent telephone interview, "either feel betrayed, or they feel stupid."

Certainly, giving the power to make law to a man like Reynolds -- a private citizen who seems so intoxicated by the cameras that nothing can stand in his way -- is a bad idea. As portrayed in the film, Reynolds is a consummate media manipulator, counting cameras at news events, always ready with a soundbite. After Klaas came out against three strikes and asked that Polly's name be removed from the campaign, Reynolds refused. Years after the campaign, far from the momentum of the moment and with plenty of time to gain perspective, Reynolds is unmoved. "Polly had no choice of who her dad was," he tells the camera.

The Legacy is an important film, one that anyone who cares about the future of California should see. But there is so much more we need to know: How is the law affecting individual lives? What is the human cost? Moore set out to answer these questions nearly four years ago, delving into the lives of five three-strikes prisoners for a documentary detailing their plight. Then the Legislature passed a law severely restricting media access to prisons, and in the process, Moore says, "slammed the door on the whole project." There is an effort afoot to get the law repealed, and Moore vows that "the minute those doors open, we'll be back in there."

The Legacy: Murder & Media, Politics & Prisons airs Tuesday, June 1, on P.O.V. on channel tk at tk time. It will be preceded at tk by a discussion of the three-strikes law on KCET's Life and Times.