“For every nine people executed in the United States, one innocent person has been exonerated” an unsettling error of margin – the closing caption on the screen shakes you up and leaves you worried.
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #JustMercy, a powerful legal drama around civil rights, streaming on #Amazonprime. Based on #BrianStevenson’s 2014 memoirs “A Story of Justice and Redemption”, the film stars #MichaelBJordan who plays young Bryan, a Harvard law graduate who moves to Alabama to defend Walter McMillan (#JamieFoxx). Walter ‘Johnny D’ McMillan is imprisoned and waiting on death row for the murder of a white teenage girl.
I am going to use a cricket metaphor to describe this film. #SunilGavaskar says that there is a difference between ‘playing’ an innings and ‘constructing’ an innings. There are legal courtroom dramas and then there is #JustMercy. This is a fine example of a slow-burn, meticulously crafted, systematically constructed drama. Director #DestinDanielCrelton does this almost documentary style; there are no over-the-top histrionics and the last scene where Walter breaks down in court is almost like an anti-climax!
#JamieFoxx is sanguine and poignant in a role where he is simply brilliant. Minimal emotion, resolute and stoic in his distrust of the legal system, he does not believe that justice can be delivered. The relationship between him and Brian is unique and very well scripted.
The strip-search that Brian is subjected to by a mocking white cop says more than all the drama. The humiliation and resent is evident in Jordan’s eyes and sets up the tone for the period drama. References to the museum set up to commemorate Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ add to the poignancy of the story that unfolds. The film lays threadbare the hypocrisy with what is essentially a ‘white’ system comprising the police, the judiciary and the society at large. It also exposes how the legal system can be manipulated by the rich and the powerful. Themes that are true even in contemporary society.
#MichaelBJordan shines with his earnest, easy charm while #JamieFoxx delivers an award-winning performance. #BrieLarson is a trifle wasted as the operations executive Eva at Jordan’s #EqualJusticeInistiative.
The hallmark of the film is the understated acting and the stoic refusal to accept status quo in a game where the dice is so vehemently loaded against you. There is poise, grace and even empathy in the black community. The “BlackLivesMatter” movement was not triggered by #GeorgeFloyd ; instead it has always been an underground stream. The stream was always waiting for us to “give a knee” for it to gush forth in a burst of repressed anguish!
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