Monday, January 27, 2020

Film Review: Just Mercy

Film Number: 7
Stars: 3.5

I find miscarriages of justice very hard to stomach. When these injustices occur at systemic level it's even worse.

I have an acquaintance, a friend of a friend, who has served 17 years for murder. He's out now, living a quiet, law-abiding life. But he never confessed to the crime, and has always vehemently professed his innocence, He adamantly denied any involvement in the event. Despite three trials over a number of years - the first two being thrown out of court, despite many inconsistencies in the evidence , which was all circumstantial, he was found guilty. He served out his sentence, finally being let out with a lot of time off for good behaviour - he would have been let out five years earlier if he admitted to the crime. If It's sickening. Knowing many gay men were arrested for many a trumped up charge even twenty years ago makes me shake with rage.

(I think something else about this case that gets me is that he and I are the same age - where I was travelling off to London finding a life, his nightmare had just started. But this is by the by)

But these injustices are nothing compared to those found in the deep South of America . Some could stay it still goes on.

There's a big difference between what went on in  with gay men in 1990's Melbourne and black men in 1980's Alabama.

There is no death penalty in Australia. The stakes are slightly lower.

Thank goodness.

Just Mercy is based on the true story of Bryan Stevenson (Michael B Jordan), a Harvard educated lawyer, a man of colour from the East Coast, who goes to Alabama to defend men of colour on death row in Alabama.



He meets with Walter "Johnnie Dee" McMillan (Jamie Foxx), a man on death row, convicted on the flimsiest of trumped up evidence in Alabama. The more you hear about the case, the angrier you feel. Blind Freddie could see Walter was innocent, but this is Alabama in the early nineties.

For every move Bryan makes to help McMillan find justice, he comes up against brick walls. He's bullied, harassed and told to leave it. But he doesn't.

What Just Mercy does is highlight the injustices and inequalities of the system. If you're white, privileged, monied, you can buy your way out of trouble. If you're black, poor and not-entitled, good luck playing the system. Crappy defense, stacked juries and the view that you're guilty until proven innocent appear to be par for the course. Knowing this is based on a true story makes it all the more gut wrenching.

Michael B. Jordan is solid as Bryan Stevenson, playing the earnest and steadfast lawyer with grace. There are some hard scenes for him to navigate. My ire was stirred when he was subjected to a strip search when he first visited the prison. He is followed and harassed by the police, subjected to all sorts of indignites and rebuffs, but he continues.

Jamie Foxx is great as Walter, the condemned man, wrongly accused and found guilty. His performance is pared back, as he goes from being a happy-go-lucky tree feller to the cautious, trampled prisoner.

Other wonderful performances come from Rafe Spall as the sleazy district attorney, Bree Larson as Eva, Bryan's colleague and Tim Blake Nelson, the man whose dodgy evidence sentenced McMillan to his fate.

What makes this film all the more heart-rending is discovering how closely the film stuck to the facts. The last fact provided in the credits is that one in nine death row cases in Alabama are overturned completely. I walked out shaking my head in horror and disgust - how can people be treated so badly? Why does it have to be like this?

This is no Mississippi Burning or A Time to Kill, but it's certainly not bad either.

Just Mercy sheds a light on systemic in justice in a place where there appears little justice for some is found. It's worth a look, as uncomfortable and unsettling the content can be. 

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