Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Written by Andrew Lanham and Destin Daniel Cretton (book by Bryan Stevenson)
Starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., and Rafe Spall
Running time 2 hours 16 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer

“Capital punishment means ‘them without the capital get the punishment.’” These striking words greet the reader in the opening pages of Bryan Stevenson’s disarming memoir Just Mercy, in which the author shares one of the first things he learned at the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (now called the Southern Center for Human Rights) where he interned and later worked after graduating from Harvard Law. I know this is supposed to be a film review, and I promise to get to the movie stuff, but first I want to talk more about the United States, specifically the pervasive racism and prejudice so deeply rooted in this country.