Best Actress 1988: Jodie Foster in The Accused

Jodie Foster received her second Oscar nomination and won for playing Sarah Tobias in The Accused. Sarah is brutally gang raped on a pinball machine at a bar and she identifies the men and they are arrested. But the prosecutor who takes the case doubts that Sarah would make a credible witness and she makes a deal which puts the defendants away, but under the charge of reckless endangerment. Sarah is furious, and after she gets into a car accident, the prosecutor decides to charge the ones who encouraged the rape with criminial scillitation and Sarah agrees to testify, despite that she is not entirely credible. To me, the best part of Fosters performance is in the beginning. When she is in the hospital being examined, she makes us feel her pain and humilation. Foster is 100% believable as Sarah, who is not very intelligent or shouldn't really be likeable, but Foster makes us understand her and root for her. The scene after she calls her mother is heartbreaking and when she confronts McGillis for making a deal, she nails it. It drops a little in the second half (Probably because McGillis is the main character and we see less of Foster) , but Foster is still real and devastating when she is on the stand. We feel her anger and emotion and it works very well. I fast forwarded through the rape scene, but having seen it before, I can say that Foster played it perfectly. She also deserves credit for having excellent chemistry with McGillis, who is also very good. Both McGilis and Foster elevate the film and make it interesting, and also make it believable, since the script has many unconvincing and predictable parts. So, a great performance that is believable every step of the way which gets