The work that I decided to review today is the movie, Just Mercy. This movie is a drama that was released in 2019 and based on the bestselling book by Bryan Stevenson. This is a powerful and moving story of a young lawyer defending those wrongly imprisoned in Alabama. The case he takes on is the case of Walter McMillen, a man who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for a crime that he did not commit. The movie follows Bryan Stevenson speaking up and seeking justice for this man trapped in a system that is doing everything it can to ignore the facts. We see the racism and injustice that takes place and occurs to people of color in this country. Police encounters and the legal system have deep systemic racism roots that need to be addressed. This movie touches on many different subjects regarding the racism so many black men and women experience in their lifetimes. Many truly believe that they are condemned since the moment they are born and it is a reality that white people don’t see, are ignorant to, or have never been exposed to before in the media. The legal system is flawed and this movie was able to bring attention to this topic. Throughout our course, we looked at various works that touched on the equality of this country due to race, for example, “Recitatif” by Tony Morrison and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These works focus on the systemic issue that many refuse to recognize. This movie accomplished the goal of adapting the book and raising awareness for this issue. It was an eye-opening movie that sparked conversation and confrontation to the problem that has been ignored for too long. It is a true story that demonstrated the flaws of the system but the hope in battling them to create a better future.
