One of the feelings after watching "The Mercy of Justice" is that there is more than enough than the top. The Mercy of Justice is based on an autobiography of a real person, which makes the theme of the story more realistic. Of course, we can also find a lot of advantages. But at the same time, this movie also has some shortcomings, resulting in room for improvement in the viewing experience. This time, let's talk about "The Mercy of Justice."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > (1) a movie based on real events, focusing on restoration VS taking its essence? </h1>
Mercy of Justice is an adaptation of the best-selling book by American lawyer Brian Stevenson, Mercy of Justice: Suffering and Redemption in American Justice. Initially, the black protagonist who graduated from Harvard Law Gave up his high-paying career and became a pro bono lawyer for a death row inmate. I thought the film would unfold in a grand scheme about the protagonist's efforts to improve the U.S. criminal justice system. Unexpectedly, "The Mercy of Justice" has always revolved around an unjust case, so as to show the historical significance of the unjust case rehabilitation with a small view.
Before discussing The Mercy of Justice, I would like to talk about the creative orientation of the film adaptation of real events. Most of the real adaptations will have the characteristics of two directions, focusing on the restoration of real events and the artistic expression of the film. But in any case, after all, you can still see the tendency. Authenticity or artistry, which is more important? In my opinion, it might be better to enhance artistry. If the emphasis is on authenticity, then the movie is no match for journalistic interview programs in any way. On the contrary, if the artistry of the film is higher and impresses the audience, it will not only make the audience spontaneously understand the real events, but also have greater influence. If the essence of the theme meaning and character spirit is extracted from the film, the effect is better than the simple restoration.
One of my favorite real-life adaptations is Call Me Number One, in which the protagonist is a Tourette who wants to be a teacher, and occasionally makes a dog bark. When people looked at him differently, he was strong and optimistic to overcome difficulties. In the first half of the film, the job search experience is interspersed with memories, which makes people deeply understand the reasons why the character wants to be a teacher; in the second half of the film, the love line and the career line go hand in hand. Coupled with the character line between the protagonist and his mother, father, and lover, the story of "Call Me First" is very rich in content, and the spirit of the characters is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This is what I think is the ideal effect for a true film adaptation.
In "The Mercy of Justice", the narrative structure of the film is basically flat and direct, focusing on restoring the beginning and end of real events. In terms of tendency, "The Mercy of Justice" pays more attention to authenticity. In a way, this diminishes the charm of "The Mercy of Justice.") In the next discussion, I will use "Call Me First" as a reference to the ideal level and start from two aspects.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (ii) is more than the following</h1>
As mentioned earlier, "The Mercy of Justice" has advantages and disadvantages, and here we will discuss "more than the following". First of all, in the concept of the film, "The Mercy of Justice" has its own unique value. The film is based on the core plot of "the rehabilitation of an unjust case", and the injustice of the case is that the arrested black man did not commit murder, but was forcibly convicted by the police and the court. However, when the lawyer protagonist files a grievance for him, he faces many obstacles, and the police and the court turn a blind eye to the evidence and even threaten the protagonist many times. This is enough to reflect the imperfection and corruption of the criminal justice system.
Not only that, the reason why black people are convicted is that the police are also under the pressure of public opinion, which is full of racial prejudice. A closer look reveals that the confrontational forces of "The Mercy of Justice" are quite rich, from the police to the courts, public opinion, and ideological concepts. At the same time, the film's disclosure of this true fact helps to awaken people's adherence to judicial justice and vigilance against racial discrimination. That's what the movie is all about.
To enhance this effect, Mercy for Justice also pays great attention to the rendering of the atmosphere. On the one hand, the film gradually exposes "unfair treatment". At first, the target of injustice was directed at the police, who ignored the evidence and framed innocent people; subsequently, the spearhead of injustice was directed at the court and public opinion, who did not look at the truth, but only made themselves stable and feel good. This "injustice" not only strengthens the power of confrontation, but also constantly advances the plot.
On the other hand, the film also portrays the grievances of some death row inmates very well, which helps to promote the plot. "Righteous Mercy" mainly refers to three death row inmates, each with their own grievances, and one of them was executed. When the bell of death approached, these death row inmates still lived with hope and strength. This can't help but make people feel heavy. In a way, I think the character portrayal of death row prisoners is even better than that of the protagonist.
In addition, the entire plot of "Righteous Mercy" is relatively complete, step by step, and the story is told in an orderly manner. These are all "more than enough than the bottom". Many reviews have mentioned that "Righteous Mercy" is very stable. Whether it is from the story structure or the actor performance, the whole is implicit and stable, and it is difficult for you to pick out anything wrong. Compared to some unsuccessful films, the stability of "Righteous Mercy" is the advantage. But from another point of view, this kind of "stability" has also become a limitation, which makes "Righteous Mercy" not brilliant enough, and has a feeling of "success and failure".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (3) is insufficient</h1>
From the perspective of the lawyer's autobiography, "The Mercy of Justice" does give a clear account of everything that should be explained. However, as far as this incident is concerned, "Righteous Mercy" still leaves a lot of gaps. These gaps make the film's story still incomplete. The plot of "Righteous Mercy" is tightly linked, that is, the protagonist of the lawyer helps the death row prisoner to redress his grievances, and all the confrontation forces revolve around the action of "redressing grievances". If "The Mercy of Justice" is based on the main line of the character's life and tells the story of multiple cases of redress, then it is not a big problem. Because just different unjust cases are enough to complete the story, and the film is also centered on shaping the characters. However, this is not the case with Mercy of Justice.
Since "Righteous Mercy" has chosen to focus on the event, it should explain the whole event clearly. The lawyer protagonist's redress of justice is only one point - this black death row prisoner is not the murderer. In fact, the whole event should look like this:
When an 18-year-old girl in the town was killed in broad daylight, the police did not solve the case for a year, and under the pressure of public opinion, they planted an innocent black man, and the court also quickly sentenced him to death. The death row inmate thought he was doomed, but when a Harvard lawyer showed up, things took a turn for the better. After the unremitting efforts of lawyers, the death row inmates were finally withdrawn...
When I watched the movie, I always asked very much, who is the murderer of the girl? Why has the police not solved the case? Why did the court decide so arbitrarily? In the middle of the film, I was expecting the film to reveal the darker forces at the end. For example, the murderer has a special identity, and the police executives want to protect him, just like "Cyber Mystery Trail"; or, digging deeper into the truth of the girl's victimization may implicate the police or the upper echelons of the court, just like "Hurricane Rescue". However, it wasn't until the end of the film that I realized that it was nothing more than police incompetence and laziness, forced by the pressure of public opinion to close the case. Combined with the plot of "Righteous Mercy", it feels like The Detective Sherlock Holmes eliminated a suspect and then ended without continuing to solve the case.
Of course, "The Mercy of Justice" is not a reasoning film after all, but a legal story. Leaving aside the truth about the murderer, let's say that the police and the court, they refuse to accept the truth, on the grounds that this will make society fall into fear again, and public opinion wants black people to go to prison. The logic of this view has its socio-historical context, and it is not necessary to talk about it. The point is that "The Mercy of Justice" does not show this pressure of public opinion, which makes the police and the court appear stubborn and rigid. In fact, the film only needs to portray the prosecutor, and the sub-plot derived from it can show the pressure of public opinion, and if it goes well, it can further create an atmosphere of racial discrimination and increase the tension of the plot. If there is more plot this time, the story will become more complete.
In addition to the incomplete story, the portrayal of the character in "Righteous Mercy" cannot be said to be very successful. In the movie, the struggle, fear, indifference, and anger of the wronged death row prisoner in the face of death are portrayed very well. In Mercy of Justice, the wronged death row inmate does not appear as an individual, but as a group. For this group image, the portrayal of "Righteous Mercy" is obviously very well placed.
However, the portrayal of the protagonist in "Righteous Mercy" is not very profound, and even he has become a tool to promote the plot. First, why does the protagonist want to give up a well-paid career and provide legal aid to death row inmates without compensation? The motivations explained in the film are not very essential, and they do not reveal the profound influence of certain experiences on the protagonist. So that when the protagonist encounters setbacks, it is difficult to empathize with the reasons for his perseverance. On the contrary, in "Call Me First", the protagonist's reason for not being a teacher is very critical, because a principal once changed him through a special education and made him understand the meaning and value of education. Therefore, when the protagonist encounters setbacks, the audience knows that he will not give up.
Secondly, "Righteous Mercy" does not show very well how the protagonist overcomes setbacks. It gives the impression that the film seems to focus more on restoring events and neglects the portrayal of the protagonist. In fact, there are several scenes in the film that are very dramatic and tense, and it is possible to show the protagonist's attitude towards frustration. By showing how the protagonist overcomes setbacks, we can see the protagonist's principles, beliefs, emotions, personality, personality and other aspects of information, so as to better understand this character image. And this is the character portrayal. Unfortunately, "The Mercy of Justice" did not dig deeper.
Among them, the most impressive thing is that the protagonist drives but is stopped by the police, raises a gun to force him to obey, and then searches the protagonist's car. This scene shows that the consequences of the protagonist's continued death are very dangerous, and this experience will inevitably affect the protagonist's mentality. The next scene, however, shifts to prison, where he continues to work without mentioning the experience directly to anyone. It is impossible to be unwavering in the face of such a threat, and it usually raises self-questions: Do I still want to continue to persevere, even if I will die? Is it worth it? If you can continue to dig deep into the emotions, motivations, and beliefs of the protagonist, it will be more conducive to portraying the image of the protagonist. I have to say that this great scene is somewhat wasted.
In addition, the ending of "Righteous Mercy" is also somewhat didactic and blunt. When the protagonist stands in front of the judge, he gives a more sensational speech, arguing about right and wrong and morality. It can be noted that the judge did not react to this statement. Obviously, these words are not spoken to the judge, but to the audience, which is a bit of a drama. At the same time, at the end of the movie, the prosecutor suddenly defected to the protagonist's camp, which is more or less abrupt. The film does not give a detailed reason for the prosecutor's defection, and the story logic is not coherent enough. This is also where "The Mercy of Justice" is slightly inadequate.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Adaptation of true events does not mean that it is limited to "absolute truth". As long as the theme, spiritual core and general experience of the true story are retained, there are still many places where other parts can be artistically processed. Or design sub-plots to enrich the story, or adopt a more flexible and smooth narrative technique, or go deep into the heart of the protagonist, or strengthen the power of confrontation, or increase the ironic effect, there are still many methods. The focus is on constantly delving into the true story, refining its best parts, and adapting it so that we can free our hands and feet. All in all, "The Mercy of Justice" is now "more than enough than the top is less than the bottom", which is still a pity.