Just Mercy: Streaming for Free During June

Blogging, family, lessons learned, music, reading, social justice 1 Minute

Four years ago I wrote about the wonderful book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption ” by Bryan Stevenson. It is one of the best books I have ever read.

The book was made into a Warner Brothers film which was released in December 2019. Here’s a short summary of the movie from Rotten Tomatoes, where the film has an audience score of 99%

A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds-and the system-stacked against them.

The film seems to stick pretty close to the story, and is nearly as moving and sad as the book.

Given all the protests we have had in our country over the past week, Warner Brothers has decided to release the movie for free to various streaming services. While Netflix did not have it, Amazon Prime did and we watched it last night.

It is a wonderful movie, and I’d highly recommend  It.

Here’s the trailer:

Note: music playing tonight while writing was Jean-Luc Ponty, a jazz and eclectic violinist. I remember first hearing Jean-Luc’s music while I was in college, back in the late 1970s…

*image from Deadline

 

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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64 thoughts on “Just Mercy: Streaming for Free During June”

      1. No, he clearly needs every pound he can make, even if he can give away a few dollars. It wasn’t cheap, either: £9.99 to buy or £4.99 to rent.

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      10. I do a lot of my reading on the Kindle app on my iPhone, and really like it. I just got an iPad a couple of months ago, and I have tried the Kindle app, and it is quite nice…

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      11. I’ve tried several Kindles over the years but always return to the iPad, it just feels better, and I like the way it lets you arrange your books into Collections – haven’t found anything similar on the Kindle Fire.

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  5. The book is great and the film was at least a poignant representation. Jean-Luc? I thought I was the only one who still remembers and enjoys his work. The best jazz violinist to ever rosin the bow. Great post, Jim!

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      2. Given that my blog reaches millions of readers, I don’t feel comfortable sharing the end of the film and ruining the surprise… 🙂

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      12. powerful movie indeed. I’m glad you got a chance to watch it. And good thing there are people like Bryan Stevenson out there fighting for people like Johnny D…

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  10. Nice write up, Jim. I’d considered seeing this film during its cinematic release but missed it I guess. As a side, about 5 years ago I was in Miami for business and stepped out of an elevator right in front of Mr. Foxx.

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  11. A great film I watched it a little while ago I downloaded it(free) from Utorrent if it isn’t on Netflix generally I can find it on Utorrent… I do have some invites if anyone wants one as it can only be accessed by invite now.

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