Monday Movie Review: Just Mercy is Streaming for Free
No new movie review today. Instead, I’m reposting my original review for Just Mercy, which is now free to stream for the month of June. Here’s my unedited original review post:
I feel a rant coming on. Because after seeing this movie, I have no idea how Once Upon a Time in Fucking Hollywood is being lauded as a Best Picture with Best Acting nominees and Just Mercy is getting nothing. If it weren’t so upsetting, it would be laughable.
Just Mercy is based on the true story of Bryan Stevenson and Walter McMillian. Walter, a Black man, is wrongfully convicted of murdering a young white woman. Though his jury recommends a life sentence, the judge overrides them and sentences him to death row. Bryan, a Black man, has recently graduated from Harvard Law and decides he’s going to use his degree to try to help those on death row who couldn’t afford legal counsel. Bryan begins work on Walter’s case, and it is clear very early on that Walter was set up to take the fall for this murder and there is no evidence to convict him. During a hearing for a motion to grant a new trial, the ONE witness admits on the stand that he lied about the whole thing in order to get a better deal for himself. That one witness was the only piece of evidence used to convict Walter, yet even with the witness recanting his statement, a new trial is not granted. It isn’t until Bryan takes the case to the Alabama Court of Appeals that his conviction is finally overturned. Walter spent six years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit.
Seeing this movie this week was absolutely gutting. I cried through most of it, honestly. Watching the Senate let the President get away with crimes he admitted to on national television and then hours later watching how Black men are treated in the criminal justice system was rough. I don’t feel like I’m a stranger to these issues. I have always had an interest in true crime books and shows, I used to teach a unit to my high schoolers about kids who are charged as adults for their crimes. Like I know the system is deeply flawed. This is not news. But seeing it portrayed on the screen was gut-wrenching.
I could easily go on and on about the political and social issues addressed in this film, but I want to make sure it’s noted that part of the reason it was so emotional watching it is because of the story, direction, and mostly the acting. Michael B. Jordan as Bryan and Jamie Foxx as Walter were both absolutely stellar. It is shameful that neither of them was recognized by the Oscars. Destin Daniel Cretton, who wrote and directed, told the story beautifully. None of that should be lost here, since this is a movie review, after all.
It’s even hard for me to write this right now without getting emotional about it again. The whole thing just makes me angry, and I feel helpless. But I am coming from a position of privilege, so I don’t get to be helpless. I have to do whatever I can to make the situation better.
And with that, if you would like to donate to the Equal Justice Initiative, please click here and give what you can. If you can’t give, vote.
Overall Grade: A+
