Clemency

This features a really poignant and strong effort from Alfre Woodard as the warden of a prison charged with ensuring the execution of prisoners. She, "Bernadine" is finding it increasingly more difficult to reconcile the responsibilities of her job with her own conscience and her marriage. None of these demons are helped when one such "procedure" goes awry and, though not her fault, she finds herself under increased scrutiny as Aldis Hodge's "Woods" is soon to follow. The performance elements of this from Woodard and from Wendell Pierce as her loving but increasingly exasperated husband "Jonathan" work well, creating a really quite powerful vision of a woman torn between remaining objective - she is, after all, doing her job - and of a woman increasingly appreciative of the terminal nature of her task and of her own failings and religiosity. The remainder of the drama, last minute appeals etc., works less well and Richard Schiff really doesn't deliver much at all as the convicted man's attorney "Lumetta" - a man who seems to be trying to imbue hope in a man based on wishful thinking and some far-fetched technicalities. Auteur Chinonye Chukwu takes her time with this impassioned story and that's no bad thing at times, allowing us to become a little more immersed in the character of the troubled "Bernadine". At other times, though, the pace really does need a bit of a shake. The whole isn't as good as the sum of the parts, but it's still quite a thought-provoking look at just where responsibility lies in circumstances none of us would ever want to experience.

"Clemency" is a magnificent film and I would not be surprised to see its star, Alfre Woodard was really, really good in the lead and I would expect to see her nominated for an Oscar for her performance. So why in the heck does the film currently have an overall score of 5.8?! What is the reason for this, as the movie is exceptionally well made. Perhaps people are voting against it for reasons other than the quality of the picture....that's the only thing that makes sense to me.

Woodard plays Warden Williams, a by the book woman who runs a prison where they perform executions. In both cases in the film, the lethal injection is done VERY realistically...so much so that it's a bit difficult to watch. But this is the reason....because the film is not just about the death penalty but how it impacts on the people who perform them. You see the Warden falling apart from the experiences, but you also see how the Chaplin and guards and the Deputy Warden are impacted as well. So, instead of just being an anti-capital punishment film, it's far, far deeper....making the story a difficult but rewarding experience.

Overall, a quality film in nearly every way and the reason I gave it a 9 instead of a 10 was one scene--where the overuse of the handycam (the 'unsteady cam') in one nauseating scene where the roving camera was unwelcome and didn't fit in with the rest of the otherwise well-filmed picture.

Outstanding performances, no question about that, but the long dragged out scenes, slow pacing, and 112 mins, made this film feel like it was never going to end. Add to that its depressing nature, you start begging for it to end. Many times I had to fast forward a scene where the character would just be staring into space forever. I get that it's supposed to build suspense, but it was just way to long, too many times, the silence became annoying. Cinematography was excellent, and the score on point. And the conceptual story was well put together, but the long screenplay flawed it. Had this film's pacing been faster, and many of the dragged out scenes edited/cut down, I would have enjoyed this much better. Sadly, it's only a 6/10 from me

I seem to agree with most of the other reviews. The acting was first rate; however it was very slow and the ending left a LOT to be desired.

Alfre Woodard gives an award worthy performance in this stark and depressing movie about capital punishment.

I know there are arguments for and against capital punishment, and I'm not entirely sure where I land on the subject, though I'm much more against than for. I do know that every time I actually see or read something about what's involved to actually put someone to death, it leaves me almost nauseated. "Clemency" opens with the execution by lethal injection of a death row prisoner, and it's incredibly disturbing to watch. To know that there's a whole system and process that exists for the sole purpose of ending the life of another human being just feels wrong, no matter what arguments there may be on the other side. This film obviously thinks so too, and doesn't even attempt to address any other point of view.

It's an awfully uneven movie. The scenes set in the prison that show Woodard's warden character battling with the inhumanity her role asks of her are very good. But the domestic scenes that detail her troubled relationship with her husband and a long scene involving two other characters (a man condemned to death, played by Aldis Hodge, and the mother of his child) veer off into clunky melodrama.

A good but not great film, most worth watching for Woodard's performance.

Grade: B+