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Artificial Justice

This reality adjacent sci-fi thriller is a pretty timely look at one of the many possible uses of Artificial Intelligence - legal judgement. In the near future, somewhere in Galicia, Spain, a system called THENTE 1 is being used to assist judges in passing down their verdicts and sentences. It's only assist for now, as a referendum is coming to decide if the whole horse and cart should be put in the hands of AI.

There's some sense to the proposal - the AI system usually makes the same decisions as most judges, and much quicker too. This would clear the backlog of cases that can clog up the courts. But obviously they are dangers to removing the human angle. With the referendum days away, the head of THENTE, Alicia (Alba Galocha) is killed in a self-driving car accident, mere hours after she proposed a postponement to the launch of the new THENTE 2. Fishy? You bet.

Meanwhile, judge Carmen (a fine performance from Verónica Echegui) is seconded to THENTE to analyse the new system and offer advice, her relative political neutrality noted as the key reason she was chosen. This fairness may come back to bite her on the arse, as both sides, yay and nay, want her to testify at the government hearing on THENTE 2's suitability. Added to this heady mix are Alicia's ex-husband and current CEO, Brais (Tamar Novas); COO, Alex (Alberto Ammann); and lawyers union boss, Goitia (Santi Prego). The only folk in Carmen's corner seem to be a colleague and an ex-crim she let off against the recommendation of the AI.

Director and co-writer, Simón Casal has form with thrillers, as well as with this particular subject - he made a TV doco about AI in the courts in 2022, also called Artificial Justice. While some aspects of the plot are a bit basic - not too hard to guess the key antagonist - the film has a nicely paranoid edge to it, and it's pretty well paced. Only the swimming scenes didn't really work for me, though there was some connection to character here.

If you like your political thrillers with a theme of futuristic anxiety, have at it. You won't be disappointed. Artificial Justice is showing around Australia as part of the HSBC Spanish Film Festival, in Perth at Palace and Luna cinemas.

See also:

The tension in the plot reminded me of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer (2010), and the themes are vaguely similar to perhaps the Cruiser's best film, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002). Oh, and one of the fellas in this (Tamar Novas) was also in the wonderful tear-jerker, The Sea Inside (2004), directed by Alejandro Amenabar.

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