Just Mercy
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
Runtime: 136 minutes
In the opening minutes of Just Mercy (2020) we see a familiar narrative played out onscreen. Walter ‘Johnny D’ McMillian (Jamie Foxx), is stopped by the police on a country road. Although clearly scared his body moves into autopilot. He turns off the engine, places his hands gently above the steering wheel and asks the officer if he’d like his ID. He does everything right, but to no avail, as he is still violently arrested by heavily armed police officers and charged for a murder he definitely did not commit.
The visceral anxiety of the first scenes sets the tone for how Just Mercy, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, explores power and the abuse of it as well as racial dynamics in the US. Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), a fresh Harvard graduate, takes on McMillian’s case (along with several other death row inmates) pro bono. For the duration of the film, we as viewers follow uncomfortably closely as Stevenson struggles against a thoroughly unjust system in a state where racism is a silent, but deeply ingrained, aspect of everyday life.
This is a really immersive film that plays out almost like a point of view documentary. The use of archival-like footage really helped draw you into the narrative. I didn’t feel like I was watching something set in the early eighties, I felt like I was there.
For the first act of the film, I worried that Jordan and Foxx would not be able to sustain the emotional depth that would be required to make this film (based on a real story) credible to me. However, I was proven wrong by the end of the second act and by the end of the film found both leads to not only have found their emotional stride individually but to also gel well together in the kind of chemistry actors can only really ever hope for. Jordan, alongside co-actor Rob Morgan (as Herbert Richardson), gave one of the most heart wrenching and powerful performances I’ve seen in a long time. Brie Larson supporting as Ava Ansley was brilliant as usual and despite being such a massive name herself, never competed with her costars. These performances were only really helped by strong direction, beautiful cinematography by Brett Pawlak, and a wonderful score by Joel P. West.
In fact, the whole film felt incredibly cohesive, as if every member of the crew really understood the film they were making. I particularly enjoyed Nat Sanders’s editing choices. All of this combined to make a film that was not only emotionally resonant but also enjoyable, as odd as it is to say. The subject matter was difficult but it was refreshing to watch a movie that clearly hadn’t been devised by algorithms, that was unafraid to “go there” in terms of race but to also allow the complex reality of the actual people involved shine through. That doesn’t mean the film is without fault. It sometimes dipped into cliché (the evil sheriff, the redeemed cop that only just realised POC were humans etc.) and I do believe that time from the first act could’ve been better utilised to flesh out the much more interesting second half of the film.
But honestly, Just Mercy is a great film. If you’re like me and sometimes find films with painful subject matters difficult to deal with, I would recommend making an exception and watch Just Mercy. I think you’ll find it worth your time and a reminder that no matter how far we stretch our imagination in fiction, some of the most powerful stories are the ones that happened to people just like us, not so long ago.
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