This past weekend I went with a few friends to watch the new movie based on the book and true story “Just Mercy”. Written by Bryan Stevenson and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, this movie will take you through a large range of emotions, leaving you with inspiration to take action against all the injustices in the world.
The movie tells the true story of Bryan Stevenson’s work to fight against the injustices in the US legal system through Walter McMillan’s case. Walter McMillan, a poor, African American man living in a small town in Alabama, was wrongfully accused of the murder of an 18 year old girl. After not being given a fair trial McMillan was put on death row. The movie follows the trials of Stevenson and he is bringing to light the faults that lie within the legal system.
The movie does a fantastic job of portraying the battles that are faced by those that are underrepresented in the law system. It cries out that these issues still exist today. Revealing the startling statistic that 1 in 9 people that receive the death sentence are actually innocent. It leaves the viewer with an empowering emotion that like Bryan Stevenson we need to realize the injustices of the world. It showed me that I need to realize that I am in just as much need of grace and mercy as anyone else.
It’s movies like this that are able to make change happen. The movies that end with a call to action, inspire people to make a difference. Before this movie, I knew there were problems in the justice system, but had never realized how bad it actually was. But after this movie, I began to dig deeper into all of the existing issues in the legal system. There are more problems than I could imagine. I am sometimes guilty of being oblivious to the issues in the world, so I can live a happy life, living with the motto that “oblivion is bliss”. But after this I know that it is necessary to be aware of the problems so that I can have an impact and make a change. I hope that this movie is able to have the same effect on others who are like me.
In conclusion, go see this movie!