Just Mercy

Just Mercy

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
U.S. | 2019 | Narrative
136 minutes | English

A powerful and thought-provoking true story, "Just Mercy" follows young civil-rights attorney Bryan Stevenson (“Black Panther’s” Michael B. Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan might have had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Oscar winner Brie Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Oscar winner Jamie Foxx) who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds — and the system — stacked against them. Variety writes: “Jordan’s acting simmers with the force of someone who’s absorbed a thousand slights, a thousand insults, a thousand rages, and will reverse that karma by keeping his cool. Jordan delivers his lines with a quickening calm, acting with a lawyer’s mind, but his eyes tell a different story. They give off glints of fury and tears.”