A very good courtroom drama.
What makes this film so captivating is its incredibly emotional portrayal of the horrors of an innocent man being sent to death row. Though this is a courtroom drama, often the most powerful scenes take place outside of the courtroom. These scenes often involve three inmates whose cells are next to each other talking. While some dialogue in this movie can feel a bit forced this is never the case with these scenes. These scenes present us with very intelligent, thought provoking and naturalistic dialogue. Making this portrayal of an innocent man on death row so much more effective is Jamie Foxx's incredible performance. This is a very subdued and subtle piece of acting, but it is more effective for being so. This is not only a quiet and soft-spoken man, but also one who has been beaten down by the system. However all along you can clearly see the pain in his face and you can know he hurts more than most of us ever will. Many actors would have played this part more over the top, but the film would have certainly not worked the right way. As one would hope for in a movie about racism, there is some very good social commentary here. Probably the best of which is when early on in the movie, when people ask the film's protagonist if he has seen the "Mockingbird Exhibit." They consider that an important piece of civil rights history and look upon it as something to be revered. Yet when a case is shockingly close to the one in How To Kill a Mockingbird, the town fails to notice the injustice.
This is definitely not a perfect movie. It is a long film and can feel like such at times. There are certainly scenes here that could have been cut out, to make for a better movie. Our main protagonist is the real life lawyer Bryan Stevenson, however how he is portrayed in this movie doesn't always make him feel completely real. He can be too perfect at times and not always easy to relate to. Still Michael B. Jordon provides a fantastic performance here, that makes up for a lot of this. Still despite any faults, when this movie works it works extremely well, leaving me with a lot to recommend here.
- Michael J. Ruhland
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