Nicholas Williams

The film Just Mercy follows the story of a young African American lawyer named Bryan Stevenson who works with inmates who are placed on Death Row in Alabama. Bryan comes across inmate Johnny D where he discovers he has been falsely accused of a murder of 18 year old Ronda Morrison, which he didn’t commit. Bryan works to get Johnny D off death row and free from prison, but during this journey Bryan and his colleagues face the battle of racism. Just Mercy features the themes of racial injustice, discrimination, and profiling.

This film critique’s gender as well as socioeconomic status quo by highlighting systematic issues in today’s society as well as the justice system. In this film it shows the mistreatment of African Americans and how they are treated. African Americans in this film are faced with racial injustice, profiling, and stereotyping. It also highlights the economic struggles and differences of people who are poor compared to the wealthy. This film also features rounded and flat characters. One rounded character from this film is Johnny D. When Johnny D first meets Bryan he is skeptical and doesn’t really believe anything can be done, he doesn’t have any faith or hope that he can be proven innocent because everything Bryan told him has already been done. By the end of the film from working with Bryan, Johnny D shows growth and he also gains hope that the truth is uncovered and revealed.

Throughout the film, Just Mercy features a lot of close ups, medium close ups, and over the shoulder shots. Low key lighting is used in this film, but it can mainly be highlighted in the prison scenes with the death row inmates in their cells. These formal techniques add to the film and enhance the meaning in the film by creating an emotional relationship between the characters and the viewer. With this film the formal elements used allow viewers to see but also feel what the characters are facing and the adversity they go through. This film works against the genders roles, a good example of this is shown with Eva. Eva works alongside Bryan and helps with the case. With her being a white woman and helping a black male she gets threatened for it, but still continues to go out and do the right thing because she believes in it.

Destin Daniel Cretton made this film to showcase the issues of racial injustice and some of the issues with the justice system that is in the world today. This film also sheds light on the real story of Bryan Stevenson and his mission of why he created the Equal Justice Initiative. Bryan and the EJI have been helping people for over 30 years and have won relief reversals for over 140 inmates on death row.

Film Reference: Just Mercy (R) dir. Destin Daniel Cretton (2019); 136 mins.