You should take the case with this documentary.

We all know about the Indie western “Rust,” and what happened on set. Alec Baldwin accidentally shot the cinematographer cinematographer Halyna Hutchins because a live round was accidentally triggered from a prop gun. And the director Joel Souza was injured by the same round. Numerous lawsuits were filed against Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and as a result, she was found guilty and he was acquitted.

As much as this passion piece cost someone’s life, I thought the film itself was okay. Now, we move on to the documentary “The Trial of Alec Baldwin,” which I think more informative and speaks about the situation and the numbers trials and press that were conjured up. It takes us to the filming location of Bonanza City, New Mexico, where the filming and accidental shooting took place, and it takes us to the detective interrogating room, where Baldwin learns on the phone that Hutchins didn’t make it. He was in shock.

The doc also reminds us about how his political views and anger were expressed, especially with the paparazzi. We also hear from Ireland, his first and only daughter with Kim Basinger, that she has inherited her father’s anger. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. And when news of the “Rust” incident took place, the media had questions, which Baldwin couldn’t answer under investigation. He gave them some information, just so they could leave him and his family alone. That’s what he was thinking about.

And we go back to his family life. He had a big family in a small house with very little to appreciate and a larger than life father. I guess we all know where his anger came from, especially since he’s Irish-Catholic. And later in the doc, Baldwin admits that he was happier as a child in poverty than he is as an adult with a great acting career and a lot of heat in the media.

I’ve met Baldwin twice in my lifetime. Once at a New York Times event in 2013, and another when he interviewed Al Pacino in 2022, despite the “Rust” incident. At the time when people were clapping, I like to consider it like Daffy Duck only being applauded when Bugs Bunny is on stage with him. But I still haven’t given up on the actor, because I know he made a mistake and it’s impossible for me to know what he went through.

The day after the screening at the Boulder International Film Festival, I attended an interview between Baldwin and Scott Feinberg from The Hollywood Reporter, and the Boulder Theater was practically a full house with fans who haven’t given up on him. And they closed the conversation by talking about the doc and how it was time for him to get his story out in the open, and to focus less on his movie career and more on his family.

Back to “The Trial of Alec Baldwin.” It is one-sided in terms of mostly having Baldwin narrate the events of his turmoil, but it does speak about how he dealt with it. We don’t just see him as an actor with a celebrated range of movies and shows like “Beetlejuice,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “30 Rock,” or “Saturday Night Live.” We see him as a family man, and he couldn’t be more passionate about them.

In Select Theaters This Friday