Page 8
January 1, 2020
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Photo courtesy W arner b ros .
Michael B. Jordan (left) and Jamie Foxx in a scene from “Just Mercy,” a new historical drama about a young black lawyer, Bryan Stevenson (Jordan), and his history-making
battle for justice.
d Wight b roWn
A powerful and thought-pro-
voking true story about justice and
redemption and the young black
lawyer who pursued the case
opened in movie theaters across
America on Christmas with a full
nationwide release coming Jan.
10.
The film tells the story of young
Harvard-educated lawyer, Bryan
Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan),
who could have his pick of law
firms. Instead, he heads to rural
Alabama to set up a small prac-
tice. In the deep south, with all its
confines, he seeks to reverse death
row sentences for wrongfully con-
victed prisoners and partners with
local advocate Eva Ansley (Brie
Larson).
The two find many on death row
are in need, but Walter McMillian
(Jamie Foxx), who was convicted
of killing an 18-year-old white
woman, becomes a prime client.
McMillian says, “I didn’t do
it” and there’s enough evidence to
question his arrest, trial, convic-
by
Just Mercy
Historical drama draws on real life hero for justice
tion and sentence. But where he
lives, in 1988, no one has enough
power or know-how to fight the
judicial system. He needs a cru-
sader and Stevenson answers the
call: “Your life is still meaningful,
and I’m going to do everything I
can to keep them from taking it,”
he says.
To get a feel for Jordan’s inter-
pretation of the role, close your
eyes and imagine a young Sid-
ney Poitier. That’s the way Jordan
plays the character. Not like a fi-
ery, agitated Denzel Washington.
Or a gritty, emotionally raw Jef-
frey Wright. Jordan’s Stevenson
has a slow, steady and academic
manner. It’s a refreshing change
from the heroes and martyrs he
often plays.
Foxx gives his best perfor-
mance since Ray. Every action,
facial expression and ounce of di-
alogue is channeled through him
with a conviction that he rarely
shows. Larson finds the core of her
character too. Rob Morgan, Tim
Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, O’Shea
Jackson Jr. and Karan Kendrick as
Walter’s wife form the rest of the
very earnest ensemble cast.
Director Destin Daniel Cret-
ton’s approach to the crime/court-
room/drama genre is near for-
mulaic. Nothing on view—from
style, to production elements, to
substance—seems
particularly
new or unique. But his guidance
gets the job done.
Cretton and co-writer Andrew
Lanham use the real lawyer Ste-
venson’s award-winning non-fic-
tion book Just Mercy: A Story of
Justice and Redemption as source
material. The script they’ve cre-
ated is clear, has distinctive char-
acters, evolves competently and
heads to an ending that is big-
ger than its building blocks. Yet,
something is missing. Something
big. Something that would make
this an extraordinary tale about
injustice.
As the story unfolds, images
of the south, prison environs and
rural black neighborhoods are cre-
ated and visualized by production
design (Sharon Seymour), editing
(Nat Sanders), costume design
(Francine
Jamison-Tanchuck),
music (Joel P. West) and cinema-
tography (Brett Pawlak) that are
solid.
Adult and urban viewers
should find the film’s depiction of
poor black men being railroaded
into death sentences—well into
the late ‘80s—alarming and en-
lightening. Whether they view
Just Mercy in a theater or on
a streaming service, its details
on history, racism and activism
should be quite affecting.
On a far more personal lev-
el, watching a very northern and
stiff African American lawyer
awkwardly adapt to a friendly ru-
ral southern black community is
compelling. It’s a fascinating jux-
taposition. A contrast in cultures
that elevates a true story.
Dwight Brown is a film critic
for the National Newspaper Pub-
lishers Association, a professional
group known as the Black Press.