1987, Monroe County, Alabama, USA.
Lumberjack Walter Macmillan, who ended the day's work, drove home as usual.
Unusually, a group of local police officers stood guard on his way home. After a few small talk, he was arrested.
A confused Macmillan had no idea what had happened.
This is the beginning of the movie "Righteous Mercy".
Douban 7.6, IMDb 7.5, Rotten Tomatoes Freshness 83%
Starting with a homicide, you think it will be a wonderful retrospective, a review of the case, and the process of detection.
Guess wrong, not so.
This is almost the most dramatic part of the whole film, and what follows is a neat, stylized, but powerful story.
Macmillan certainly didn't kill. He was arrested only because of the color of his skin, and he was a black man.
The film "Mercy of Justice" is based on the book of the same name by American human rights lawyer Brian Stevenson.
Brian Stevenson, known as "Mandela of America," is his memoir as a human rights lawyer.
It contains historical and political interpretations, reflections on racism, the gap between rich and poor, and the U.S. criminal justice system.
The movie "Righteous Mercy" takes a case from the book as a prototype.
This case is the famous "Walter Wrongs Case" in the history of American justice, and it is also the most important case in Brian's entire career.
It's the story of a lawyer who strives to appeal to others to speak up for the silenced, disenfranchised death row inmates.
Ronda Morrison, an 18-year-old dry cleaner, was murdered in the shop, and after more than a year of investigation, police identified the killer as Walter Macmillan (Jamie Fox) in town.
Macmillan was convicted very crudely, even a year before trial began, and was imprisoned.
On August 17, 1988, a jury sentenced Macmillan to death for the crimes he committed.
It was the same year that Brian graduated from Harvard Law. Michael P. B. Jordan put away his majestic figure in [Black Panther], put on a suit and tie, and lowered his idealism to the bottom of society.
In 1989, Brian founded the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.
It is a non-profit organization that provides free legal aid to the poor who cannot afford to hire a lawyer, death row inmates who have suffered judicial miscarriages, and vulnerable groups.
Brian's first case in Alabama was the Walter case.
Brian (Michael M.) B. Jordan as )
As a highly educated Northerner, Brian was clearly unprepared for the deep-seated black discrimination of whites in the South.
When Brian first went to see Macmillan in prison, he was also black and asked by prison guards to strip and search. Brian said the lawyer didn't have to search and was asked, "Are you a lawyer?" ”
When the two first met, Macmillan was visibly dismissive of Brian's naivety and enthusiasm: "You rich kid from Harvard have no idea of our situation. From the day we are born, we have sin. ”
In a later investigation, Brian discovered that the original law and justice also had an imperfect side. This imperfect side can be free to smear an innocent good person as a murderer.
The innate color of their skin became their original sin.
And apart from the parties and their families, no one cares at all whether all this is reasonable.
For the police, it is easy to solve the case early; for the judge, all they want is a scapegoat; for the victim's family, the murderer's being brought to justice is the greatest comfort; for the public, the criminal is caught, and everyone is happy.
Why did they pick Macmillan?
Because of his successful career, he was a contractor in the woods, because he had an affair with a white lady, because he was a successful black man. For the police and judges, it is most appropriate to extinguish his arrogance and shoot him.
Brian then sought help from Macmillan's family and neighbors, but was initially refused because they said, "The last lawyer who came also said he could solve the problem. Swindled our money and ran away. ”
It wasn't until Brian's told them that the defense was free that they let their guard down. Even so, everyone felt pessimistic, feeling, "The death penalty is just another way of lynching black people." ”
Brian asked them, "How many people were with Macmillan at the time of the crime?" Then everyone in the room raised their hands.
This gave Brian another blow.
Just because they were all black, the testimony was deliberately ignored by the judge, and a key witness who was clearly lying was credibly believed.
This reinforced Brian's determination to defend Macmillan, as this was not just a case, he also had to challenge slavery and racial discrimination in the South.
Brian began to work hard to lobby witnesses, to make them aware of the power of the small thoughts of kindness that had gathered, and to make them fight for their own and others' justice.
Appearing on a television interview program and appealing the case to state court, Brian was spreading as much influence as possible about the incident.
Brian is not only a warrior, but also a tough rope, tying the will and destiny of himself and all people tightly together.
There is no suspense in the ending.
Eventually, thanks to Brian's tireless efforts and travels, Macmillan was set free. Brian emphasized the phrase at the hearing: "The opposite of poverty is not wealth, the opposite of poverty is imperfect justice." ”
The whole process was extremely restrained, and in the courtroom, a battlefield without smoke, victory and defeat were announced in a calm tone.
Brian himself, as one of the producers of [Mercy of Justice], was his advice: "Reject any embellishments and focus on facts, which is also a fairness in itself." ”
As the founder and executive director of Action for Equal Justice, Brian has helped more than 140 death row inmates get relief and release over the past 30 years.
Out of respect for the facts, the film abandons the dramatic presentation in what should be an intense defense stage.
But to make up for it, the film puts all the undiscovered dramatic tension on the subtle details. It also allows the whole film to get rid of the documentary-style boring and avoid becoming a boring legal drama.
It is these poetic out-of-chapters that bring vitality and compassion to the film [Mercy of Justice].
In prison, Macmillan, every time he feels physically and mentally exhausted and in pain, he thinks of the sky above the woods.
That was the sky he had looked up at while logging in the woods on the day he was arrested by the police. It was just that at that time, where did he know that this might be the last time he would see the sky.
He missed what he might lose, and that was also a desire for freedom.
How do you describe this feeling? Perhaps the most empathetic to those of us who have been self-isolating at home for nearly a month. It's like you keep remembering what you did the last time you went out.
Instead of portraying Brian as a hero, the film filmed the fear, doubt, and pain he experienced at work.
But it also stops there and doesn't touch the inner world further. His jerkiness and helplessness just watched quietly.
Being pointed at a gun is a shame for everyone
There is also the murder in the movie, which is only an introduction and has never unfolded. As for whether the real murderer was caught, there is no explanation.
In other words, as a pure lawyer and the protagonist of the movie, finding the real murderer is not Brian's concern, he just needs to prove that the person who is arrested is not the murderer.
As for the other death row inmates in the prison, who occupy a lot of space, they contrast with Macmillan, inside and out, symbolizing those who have not been rescued.
"The worst thing you can give to a condemned prisoner is hope." For Herb (Rob Morgan), that's it.
He is another death row inmate awaiting execution, a former Vietnam Veteran who suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the war. He sought spiritual help, but was slow to respond.
Later he planted a bomb in front of someone else's house, which led to the death of a girl.
Herb did not deny his crimes. As he ponders his own destiny, remorse, fear and sadness intertwine heartbreakingly.
On the day of the electrocution, he was like a fragile ghost, hollowed out by fear. He was strapped to an electric chair, and the prison's stereo looped "The Old Rugged Cross," which was specially on demand for him.
The inmates of the entire prison, banging on the iron door of the cell with their tin cups, chanted "Herb, we are with you." "At that moment, we were so close to death, listening to the echoes of death.
Herbert's death, a small part of this killing system, is a pathological extension of racism and the most disturbing moment of the entire film.
It seems that only in such extreme cases will people be forced to think about the nature of "fairness and justice".
[The Mercy of Justice] is like a "legal version" of the [Green Book].
Because it is also speaking out for blacks, equal rights for blacks, trying to eliminate all kinds of unfair treatment suffered by blacks.
But [the mercy of justice] is more universal than the Green Book.
[The Mercy of Justice] is a classic example of the criminal justice system that was formed in the crucible of slavery and still carries the heavy shackles of the past. Macmillan, on the other hand, is just one of millions of victims.
Brian's victory may not directly soften the deadlock of black discrimination, but it makes people see the possibility of people of different races, colors, genders and status working together to fight for justice.
[Righteous Mercy] is also like [Blackwater], the protagonists are all lawyers, all of whom defend truth and justice with small and broad. Even if those in power deliberately distort the truth and make everyone shut up, there are still people who are willing to stand up and speak out bravely.
[Blackwater]
Dr. Zhang Wenhong said, "People can't bully obedient people", what kind of consensus should it be based on?
It is when obedient people are really bullied, someone will stand up for them and defend them.
So back to the original question: Why did he defend a death row inmate?
Because the death penalty is an abstract concept, according to the laws and regulations, systematically executed in every detail, and involuntarily killing a person who is not threatening. These are two completely different things.
Broadly speaking, this is not just an American story, it is about the prejudices suffered by marginalized groups. This phenomenon exists in many parts of the world.
Brian says the word "Mercy" was added to the film's name because most of the time what we think of as "justice" seems to be out of touch with "mercy."
"Justice" and "mercy" are closely related, and everyone can speak out about the injustice in front of them and help with prejudice, which can bring strength to hope.
As the book The Mercy of Justice says:
"We have a choice. We can embrace humanity, that is, embrace this broken nature and empathy, and hold the best hope for healing. Or simply deny our imperfections, abandon empathy, and finally let us negate our human nature. ”
Which movie about "justice" impressed you