Currently in the top 10 of the most viewed films on the platform, this feature film released in 2020 is unfortunately adapted from a true story.
Rush on this biopic / trial film which is a hit on Netflix where it occupies the 6th place of the most watched films. Currently present on the platform under its original title, Just Mercy, it was called “La Voie de la justice” when it was released in France in January 2020.
After brilliant studies at Harvard University, young lawyer Bryan Stevenson gives up a lucrative career to defend those who have been wrongfully convicted in Alabama. One of his earliest cases was that of Walter McMillian who, in 1987, was sentenced to death for the resounding murder of an 18-year-old girl when the majority of evidence pointed to his innocence.
Michael B. Jordan, hero of the Creed saga and seen as a villain in Black Panther, lends his features to Bryan Stevenson, who really existed and fought for civil rights in Alabama during the 1980s, seeking in particular to obtain the end to mass incarceration and excessive sentences in American justice.
Warner Bros. Michael B.Jordan
It is his life that is represented in Just Mercy, as well as his fight and his involvement in several cases, including that of Walter McMillian, while coming up against systemic racism and unfair maneuvers.
The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, a director from American independent cinema who was recently seen at the controls of the Marvel blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Warner Bros.
His staging is very academic in the sense that the very important subject he deals with seems to impress him so much that we feel the camera shy and wisely posed. This contrasts with the dynamism he had been able to show in his previous films Le Château de verre or States of Grace.
The film was a commercial failure upon its theatrical release, but is apparently finding a second life thanks to subscribers. Nice revenge!