In Cinemas: Just Mercy

Michael B. Jordan plays the activist Bryan Stevenson, to whom the script has given a wafer-thin characterization: Stevenson is noble and good. Can he use these characteristics to express something like the anger of the oppressed? No. Films with a message about the suffering of African-Americans have been around since the 1950s. The vast majority of productions pursue one goal: not to offend the white audience with what is called "Black Anger". Black people are enslaved, mistreated or shot by racist cops. Only they must not get angry. They always have to act full of nobility (and for this we hear a gospel choir in the background murmuring softly). Just Mercy" is just like a movie. Nice and easy to digest. A film that tries to create "teachable" moments to win the hearts of the racists. Moreover, the racists in these movies are so profoundly evil that every white viewer has to think: "Thank God I'm not like this guy. Destin Daniel Cretton works with this formula. But at least "Just Mercy" addresses certain topics at all. Is the life of white people worth more than that of black people? How unjust is the justice system? Shown in the case of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), who is on death row for a crime he did not commit. Although more than enough people testify to his alibi, he is sentenced to death by the jury in Alabama. With the help of some cartoon villains like the corrupt sheriff. Ironically, we get to witness a case that would be credible in itself - but is portrayed so weakly that I had to laugh. Cinematic clichés make us even assume that super villains like the sheriff don't belong to an equally corrupt system! Of course Foxx' McMillian is also an extremely shallow character. One that can be wonderfully underlaid with a gospel choir.

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