In partnership with Warner Bros.
Just Mercy (Warner Bros. Pictures), directed by Award-winning filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (The Glass Castle, Short Term 12), is a film that will stay with you long after you leave the cinema, invoking every emotion imaginable. Rather than spoiling the experience – we’ve brought you some spoiler-free reasons why you should catch Just Mercy when it comes out in cinemas this Friday.
Regardless of how good the story is, the people bringing it to life have to do it justice. Jamie Foxx (Ray, Baby Driver, Django: Unchained) and Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther, the Creed franchise, Fruitvale Station) who play Walter McMillian and Bryan Stevenson respectively do just that. We’ve seen Jamie Foxx bring some great characters to life already, whether its Django Freeman from the epic Quentin Tarantino directed Django Unchained, or the legendary Blues crooner Ray Charles in the biopic Ray.
Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of wrongfully convicted murderer Walter McMillian, really brings the realities of an injustice we will never know uncomfortably close to home. This role will no doubt bolster his already massively impressive resume ́. We’ve perhaps become more accustomed to Michael B. Jordan playing fictional superheroes or villains, but his riveting performance as defence lawyer Bryan Stevenson; sees him fill the shoes of a very real superhero comfortably. Brie Larson (Room, Short Term 12, Captain Marvel) who co-stars alongside Michael B. Jordan as Eva Ansley also has a star turn. O’Shea Jackson Jr (Straight Outta Compton) also appears in the film as one of the inmates on death row alongside Walter McMillian.
The film is based on a true story, which has been adapted from a book Bryan Stevenson penned about the case. The premise of the film is that Walter McMillian is wrongly convicted of the murder of a white woman and finds himself on death row. Bryan Stevenson is a hot shot freshly graduated Harvard Lawyer, who after being galvanised by his experiences as an intern looks to set up the Equal Justice Initiative – where he and his assistant Eva Ansley look to offer legal aid for those inmates that need it most. Walter McMillian falls into that category, during the course of the film the pair slowly undercover the deep-seated racism that has lodged itself firmly into the psyche of those who are supposedly meant to uphold fair and just values of society, irrespective of race or class.
The battle is fought not just in the courtroom or the prison, but it’s taken to barren plains as Bryan fights his own battles against prejudice while simultaneously defending others.
We’re in the age of information undoubtedly. We have everything at our fingertips and we’re constantly barraged with facts, or things masquerading as facts. As a result of gorging ourselves on this information overload, we’re not digesting things properly. Just Mercy packages some really topical issues in a powerful yet digestible format. With the added bonus of being based on reality, it really helps drive home some harsh realities from racial injustice, to highlighting the blighted severally unbalanced American justice system.
Whether it’s in our own lives, or in other people’s lives, we can turn things around like Bryan Stevenson does for Walter McMillian. There’s no better time to be reminded of this than in the New Year, as we try tenaciously to stick to resolutions and turn over a new leaf.
Buy your ticket to see Just Mercy here.
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