Cinematic Faves had the honour of attending this year's London Film Festival. As always, there was a fantastic selection of cinema available, but there was something about Destin Daniel Cretton's Just Mercy that stuck with me.
Michael B. Jordan plays lawyer and social activist, Bryan Stevenson, in an adaptation of Stevenson's 2014 book; Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. The film focuses predominately on the case of Walter McMillian, played by Jamie Foxx, who was falsely accused and put on death row. The story centres itself around the trials and tribulations of the case and the foundation of Stevenson's non-profit organisation the Equal Justice Initiative.
The death penalty had never been something I'd put much thought on. Capital Punishment was abolished in 1969 in the UK, and I hadn't heard of it since a Year 9 Religious Education class in which we watched a small section of Frank Darabont's The Green Mile (2000). It had settled in my memory as an archaic practice, and I was shocked to the core to see it depicted on screen in 2019.
Just Mercy may focus on stories of those in the nineties and noughties, but Mr McMillain's is present in cases that exist today. The death penalty is alive and well in present-day America, and Cretton's film feels like a call to action for this generation.
The film reaches UK cinemas on January 17th. From now until then (and potentially beyond) we will be doing small things to coincide with its release.
The first of these will take place on January 10th in London, UK. We pledge to leave four copies of Bryan Stevenson's book Just Mercy in various spots around London, as well as four of Anthony Ray Hinton's The Sun Does Shine. Hinton, another client of Bryan Stevenson, is depicted in the film by O'Shea Jackson Jr.
We are located in London, which is why the initiative will be taking place here. However, we also pledge to give away a copy of each book on our website closer to the film's release date alongside an extra surprise that'll be announced in the New Year. This way people outside of the city have a chance for the story to reach them.
We're an independent publication, and so our funds are limited, but we will, without a doubt, be pledging to the ten books we've promised.
We have started a PayPal pool account where people can donate as much or as little money as they'd like to help us with this. As we said, the ten copies mentioned will come directly from our pocket, but anything extra we earn will help us buy more copies to share this story further.
Click HERE for the PayPal Pool.
For more information on Bryan Stevenson and Just Mercy, you can click HERE.
To keep up to date on where they'll be hidden you can follow @cinematicfaves on Instagram and @billiemelissa_ on Twitter.
Until next time
Post a Comment