The powerful and thought-provoking new film Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan and Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson, is based on a true story and book of the same name by Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. It follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Stevenson has his pick of lucrative jobs; instead, however, 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 defending 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, Stevenson becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings in addition to overt and unabashed racism as he fights for McMillan, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.
Take a look at the trailer below:
Just Mercy, which was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and whose script was co-authored by Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, also stars Rob Morgan, O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Karan Kendrick. The film opened in limited release last week on Christmas Day; it will be in theaters nationwide on January 10.
