23. Just Mercy; movie review

JUST MERCY
Cert 12A
137 mins
BBFC advice: Contains execution scene, racist language, moderate threat, language

Let's say it now - the Oscar nominations this year have been an outrage.
And isn't it ironic that Just Mercy, a movie about warped judgments against African Americans, should be so unjustly sidelined by the predominantly white Hollywood establishment?
Mrs W and I walked out of Nottingham Cineworld in a trance for the second time in a week because Just Mercy pushes 1917 so hard for our favourite movie of the year. yes, it is that good.
And yet, its largely black cast have found themselves inexplicably snubbed by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Giving plaudits to Destin Daniel Cretton's movie would not have been a sop to those demanding diversity in opportunity - it would have simply been correct.
His film is so much more riveting than The Joker, Little Women, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood or Marriage Story and its acting is every bit as good if not better.
Just Mercy is a devastating true story which is utterly compelling from start to finish. It would have been perfectly just if it has been recognised in the best picture category and that Cretton and his fellow writer, Andrew Lanham, had been nominated.
In the acting categories. Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx should have been shoo-ins and Brie Larson also has a fair case.
Just Mercy is a celebration of black perseverance against white bigotry. Not since 12 Years A Slave has the point about America's social divisions been made with such clarity.
But it is also so riveting that it is draining.
Jordan plays Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer who, much to the dismay of his mother, used his Harvard-educated background to work with the unrepresented on death row in Alabama.
He is naive to the discrimination he is about to experience, believing that nobody can possibly be above the law.
Indeed, he faces full-on bigotry when he sets about freeing death row inmate, Walter McMillan (Foxx) who was framed for murder.
Larson is unrecognisable as his determined and unpaid researcher.
Time and again they fight for what is palpably right and time against they face sapping setbacks due to an establishment which simply values white and black lives differently.
It would be less harrowing if it weren't true. But this is a faithful and brilliantly presented account of what happened in America only 30 years ago.
Perhaps it was just too close to home for Hollywood. Regardless, go watch it.

Reasons to watch: Not only an important film but a brilliant one
Reasons to avoid: Upsetting scenes

Laughs: None
Jumps: One
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 10/10

Did you know? Although most nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where the death penalty is retained, such as China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, among almost all mostly Islamic countries and is maintained in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

The final word. Jamie Foxx: "We’re not beyond reality, where everybody is suddenly going to lead the charge, but as long as it’s out there and everybody can rally around it, to where it’s not black or white, it’s just a human thing. This is a movie where everybody feels like they can help. This is the right kind of medicine that we need.” EW.com

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