Review of Just Mercy

Just Mercy makes an uncomfortable story just as uncomfortable as it should be

I’m never sure how to feel about movies like this. I mean, it’s uplifting to see an innocent man finally get the justice and freedom he deserves, but DAMN it paints a bleak and horrific picture of just how racist and unfair our country was not too long ago. Thank God all that’s over.

Just Mercy is the true story of Walter McMillan, an innocent man sentenced to death in Alabama, and Bryan Stevenson, the Harvard lawyer who appeals and ultimately overturns his conviction. Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx were fantastic in their roles, but I also want to give a shout out to Tim Blake Nelson for his turn as the patsy that the state extorted into a false testimony to get the conviction against McMillan. The scene where he admits how the sheriff got him to lie about the murder was one of the more powerful scenes I’ve seen in the last few years.

But the real story here is how in the hell can a county get away with this? Granted, there may have been some liberties taken in this movie, and this story was only told from one side, but if even some of this is how it happened, I’m so sad for our country. This movie is about a case that happened when I was a senior in high school, and I would have allegedly been able to understand how wrong this was. But I don’t remember hearing about this at all. Or anything like this. Last I heard, Rosa Parks kicked off the civil rights movement and we celebrated her and Dr. King and racism was when a white guy would prefer to hire another white guy for a job. I was grossly unaware that white people in charge were doing pretty much what they wanted with the justice system because they got there first. And by white people, I of course mean white men.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. History is written by the victors. Yeah, this movie got me going.

Some of the best scenes in this was the comradery they showed for those on death row, especially during the execution scene. It was an interesting look into what death row is like, something that doesn’t get a lot of screen time as far as I can remember.

My one problem with this movie is as I mentioned, I’m not sure how to feel. Or more to the point, I’m not sure what I feel. I mean, good on Johnnie D, but I felt mostly pissed off at white people and the things they think they can get away with. They. Man, I’m all mixed up. More proof that Just Mercy did what it sought out to do. And I didn’t feel it being crammed down my throat like some movies try to do. It just simply presents its case and lets you feel however you want, even if you don’t know what exactly that is.

7/10

Dustin Fisher