Hot on the heels of Kinky Boots comes the Bowen Island Film Society’s screening of Steel Toes [Canada, 2006].   

"Steel Toes" is an engrossing drama, adapted from a successful stage play, which pits a progressive Jewish defense attorney against his own client, a neo-Nazi skinhead who's confessed to murder. With co-direction from the playwright, David Gow, the picture boasts Oscar-nominated David Strathairn [for George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck] in a sizable and interesting lead role.

The horrific crime committed by skinhead Michael (Andrew Walker) is shown upfront and over the opening credits, leaving no doubt about his guilt. Drunk and looking for trouble, Michael confronts an Indian cook in a Montreal alleyway and pummels him with the titular steel-toed boots. The drama focuses on Michael and his court-appointed counsel, Danny Dunckelman (Strathairn), whose Jewishness is at first a fetishistic point of interest for his client.

Although Michael depends on Danny, he would easily rub him out in an "ideal" neo-Nazi world. Walker’s performance is of exceptional physical intensity, and an engrossing portrayal by Strathairn shows the testing of Danny's innate liberal values against the reality of his worst fears.  Despite Michael's confession, Danny convinces his client to put on the best possible defense so there's no room for questioning that even skinheads get a fair trial in Canada.

Lengthy dialogues between the lawyer and his defendant in Montreal's St. Vincent de Paul prison [an incredible setting which practically oozes evil] are interspersed with largely dialogue-free interludes to slightly open things up cinematically. These scenes sometimes involve Danny's wife Anna (Marina Orsini), who eventually leaves Danny when he becomes too involved with the case for a home life.

Without giving away too much, the film’s climax turns the tables on each character. Steel Toes screens on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 7:30 pm at Collins Hall. The running time is 90 minutes.  Rated R.