JUST MERCY Michael B Jordan as Bryan Stevenson

JUST MERCY is the film focusing on true events in the early 90s concerning the legal battle to overturn the wrongly convicted Walter McMillian , a.k.a. Johnny D (Jamie Foxx, in an Oscar worthy performance) aided by atty. Bryan Stevenson (Michael B Jordan).  McMillian was framed for the murder of an 18 yr. old white women in AL and given a death sentence.  Stevenson, a Harvard law grad, having just passed the AL Bar, founded the Equal Justice Initiative, to  help pro bono, wrongly convicted people receive justice.  Stevenson's mission is met by outright enmity from law enforcement & the white community, police harassment, bomb threats and skepticism by the black men for whom he pledges legal support.  Initially, Stevenson's only ally was white female activist Eva Ansley (Brie Larson).  JUST MERCY is significantly more than a compelling biopic or courtroom drama.  It's a clarion cry for long over do justice in our society.  In one scene, Bryan & Ally overlook the serene harbor where Bryan notes this is where Africans were first dragged ashore to be sold into slavery.  The inhumanity of slavery in the US has morphed into racial oppression, mass incarceration and intentional abuse the legal system to suppress the poor and people of color.  The harsh reality of how abusive systemic racism is in our nation cannot be brushed aside.  But, it takes courage, morality, decency, compassion & commitment to amend the long overdue imbalance of justice and construct a humane society.  Dir. Destin Cretton has made a cogent and heartfelt film based on real people and actual events.  Sadly, these are actual events.  The film educates, inspires  motivates us to align for a world of mercy; a world of justice.  The film doesn't proselytize, rather it serves to inspire social reform.  What we say and do matters. Furthermore, truth will prevail despite the wheels of justice turning slowly.  Still, we are system of laws.  There are other important observations made.  Capital punishment has no place in civilized society and should be banned outright & immediately.  Herbert Richard (Rob Morgan) was executed during the time McMillian spent on death row. Morgan deserves an Oscar for depicting the barbarity of sanctioned execution. Neglect for the care of veterans is shameful.  Sentencing of our youths is cruel & far too punitive.  No one act should define a person's life.  Every life has value.  "The opposite of justice is not injustice it's poverty." (BS) "You ultimately judge the civility of society not by how it treats the rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged." (BS)