Artificial Justice (Justicia Artificial) Edinburgh Spanish Filmfest 2024

By Jim Welsh

7 October 2024

This year’s ESFF got off to the perfect start with this intelligent, noir-ish thriller.

Director Simon Casal sets his film in the (very) near future, where a justice system is becoming overwhelmed by enormous caseloads and a shortage of judges. The government announces a referendum to approve the introduction of an artificial intelligence algorithm to decide on both guilt or innocence and the length of sentence for those found guilty.

This leads to understandable opposition from the judicial profession, who stress the need for there to be a human component to the dispensing of justice.

An invitation is extended for a judge to evaluate the proposed system, and so Carmen Costa (Victoria Echegui) finds herself at the centre of the debate. While the company providing the technology gives an initial impression of being open with access to their system, Judge Costa is troubled by a number of things, not least the sudden disappearance of the system’s creator, who she finds had been intending to delay its introduction, expressing doubts as to its readiness.

Doubts Costa comes to share, as suspicious deaths and disappearances start to mount up and she is given evidence that there will be a two-tier element to the proposed justice system – a VIP level for those who can pay for a more favourable verdict.

Casals builds the tension steadily, aided by a fine performance by Echegui, and a tautly written script. He does not portray AI as the bogeyman to be feared, but instead focusses on those who, while creating the algorithm would decide what parameters would be installed – weighted on criteria of sex, race, religion or power. And, once it is installed, would shelter behind the anonymity it brings while in a position to deny even the possibility of any injustice.

A thought-provoking watch, not just for movie buffs, but, indeed, for all of us.

Available at: https://radiosummerhallarts.com/2024/10/07/artificial-justice-justicia-artificial-edinburgh-spanish-filmfest-2024/