About the film cast: Brad Renfro and his early death

Brad Renfro was the actor that played Mark Sway in The Client movie. He was born in Los Angeles, 1982. Son of a factory worker, that left the family when Brad was 5. When he was raised by his grandmother. The child was discovered by a cast director, when he was 10, for the The Client's cast. The film was released in 1994 and he had no previous experience as an actor.

After that, Brad played other famous characters. He won, in 1995, The Hollywood Reporter's Young Star Award and was indicated as one of the 30 persons most famous before 30 years old.

From 1998, Brad started a lot of throubles with drugs and passed some time in jail, but continued acting in movies. In 2008 he was found dead in your house. The cause of that was heroin overdose.

    

Time contrast: USA poverty and no health assistance

In USA, if you need medical services, you need to pay. Only elderly people or person who lives below the poverty line can use free health services, but only emergency and simple attendance. Medicare and Medicaid are the free heath insurances. 

The first are used by are 65 years old ou more people. This system offers protection to handicapped people too. The second are used by very poor people. The most of medical attendance are payed by users. Because this, a lot of people dont go to medics to save money and has a lot of health problems. 

In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was released by Obama. This act is known by Obamacare and created mechanisms to make easier people to sign in private health insurances. In this way, the goal is to reduce state costs with emergency health.

Time contrast: The Mafia activity on USA

The USA mafia, or only mob, was born on poor italians neighborhoods around the country at ends of 19h century and the beginners of 20th century. Extorsion, smuggling, cheats, theft, bribery, money laundering, illegal gambling, prostitution, pornography, murder and drug trafficking are its activities. 

As in Italia, the Mafia is organized like a family, but there aren`t blood relationships beetwen members. In Mafia apex, at middle of 20th century, the main “families” dominated 26 american cities. 

Nowadays the organization is weakened despite the increasing numbers of other crime groups, but has power at USA northeast.

The Book vs The Movie

When we compare a book to a movie we must take into consideration it isn't copying the book, it is adapting it. Based on the book The Client, the movie is more detailed than the book, because the book we read is a graded book. 

The classic book has about 700 pages, and the graded book has about 80 pages, and the movie was inspired by the classic book. The adaptations are known to change many things from the original story, but not every change is bad, but I still found it valid to put some here. In the book the lawyer tells where the body is at the beginning of the book, in the movie only says at the end. 

In the book the mother calls doctor’s family because Rick is in shock with the death, in the movie the policeman who calls an ambulance to take Rick. In the book Reggie and Mark observe on the garden the mafia trying to move the body of the senator, in the movie Mark is hidden inside the boat and Reggie outside the cabin. In the movie Reggie just saying goodbye to Mark gives him a necklace so he can remember her. In the book this is not mentioned. 

The Book, for the most part, is better than the movie. But in this case, the movie was better than the book.

About the original book

The Client 

Author: John Grisham 

Released: 1993 
Main Characters: Reggie Love, Jerome Clifford, Roy Foltrig, Dianne Sway, Mark Sway, Rick Sway and Barry Muldano. 

Plot: The brothers Rick and Mark Sway were smoking cigarettes next to their house behind the trees when they saw a man at his car. The man was screaming and had an appearance of someone who was desperate.

Mark, the oldest brother, decided to go at the car to talk with the man. His name was Jerome Clifford, a lawyer. Before the brothers witnessed his suicide, Clifford told Mark a secret. After this Rick got trauma because of that scene and Mark was scared with the secret. They returned to their home. Rick needed a doctor and went to the hospital with his mother, Dianne. In the hospital Mark decided to find a lawyer to ask for help. 

He met Reggie Love and she agreed to help Sway's family but, not yet, she didn't know about the secret. Mafia members and FBI pressured Mark because they believed he knew something. They wanted Mark to reveal what he knew. It was an adventure to Mark and Reggie, with some suspense and risks involving the secret, FBI and Mafia. Mark was placed in custody to stay safe. When the judge and the court decided about the Sway's life, Mark showed Reggie details about the secret e told what he knew. 

So, Clifford was a Mafia's lawyer and his client, the gangster Barry Muldano, murdered a U.S senator and hid the body under the Clifford's boat.