The United States of Leland

In the movie, "The United States of Leland," Leland Fitzgerald commits a murder and becomes the center of attention as people try to understand why he did it. The only person Leland trusts is Pearl, the juvenile hall teacher and aspiring writer who helps Leland to examine the truth of his crime. Unknown to Leland, Pearl had his own agenda, and uses Leland to obtain material for a book. Pearl does this until he begins to see that Leland is giving him something he never expected. Leland is not given the concrete answer Pearl seeks, but the realization that now is the time to change his own life for the better.

Leland is a soft spoke fifteen-year-old boy that appeared to be headed in the right direction despite his unusual background and past life. He moved around from place to place, with no foundation or person to attach himself to. His background and past actions, being as they were, did not show signs that would prove him a criminal.

The movie's organization was very confusing and messy towards the beginning, but was done on purpose. This disorganization parallels the disorganization of Leland's thinking and feelings. He began talking with Pearl. The relationship seemed to be one that was to help Leland figure out his reason of committing murder, but in actuality the words and reasoning of life Leland gave allowed us to relate our mistakes with his. As various people try to deal with Leland's murder they all expose their own mistakes and we get to see how different people deal with them. The most telling message comes from the conversations between Leland and Pearl. Pearl is not a great guy himself - he's a liar, drinks too much, cheats on his girlfriend, and uses others for his own benefit. He is called on a lot of this and responds with the usual "I'm only human" lines until Leland calls even those into question. Leland asks, "How come people only say that when they've done something bad - never when they save a baby from a burning building?" He gets Pearl to admit that he wanted to do those wrong things and that is why he did it. Pearl realizes that he had no excuse for what he did and needs to deal with it. It is scenes like these that pull us away from contemplating Leland's crime and forces us to deal with our own motives. Yes, Leland is a murderer and this should not be minimized, but he is difficult to argue with because he is the only one who is not trying to justify himself.

Leland grew tired of people asking him why he committed the murder, because he himself had no idea why. He explained that everyone is to busy wondering why things take place, instead of just