Just Mercy

Destin Daniel Cretton shot Bryan Stevenson’s memoir in Montgomery, the city where the real Equal Justice Initiative was founded. The conviction at the centre is not evidence free; it rests on one statement, given by a convicted felon called Ralph Myers in exchange for a lighter sentence in his own case, and the second half of the film is the slow dismantling of that testimony. A second case runs alongside it: the execution of Herbert Richardson, played by Rob Morgan, is shown through to the end, and Stevenson loses him. Michael B. Jordan’s production company Outlier Society applied an inclusion rider to casting and crewing on this production. In June 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, Warner Bros. made the film free to stream for a month. It won four prizes at the 51st NAACP Image Awards: outstanding motion picture, actor for Jordan, supporting actor for Jamie Foxx and ensemble cast. A 2024 psychology study used it as an experimental stimulus, and among 749 participants support for capital punishment fell regardless of political leaning. A good fit if you want one bargained statement taken apart line by line. Not for anyone who cannot sit through an execution played out without a cut away.