Clemency

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+

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.

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

My Review- Clemency My Score 6.5/10

I watched this film only to see the performance of Alfre Woodard who stars as Bernadine Williams. Alfre has just received a Best Actress nomination from the British Academy Film Awards for a very difficult and dramatic role. I have one question was her nomination a race balance decision or was it at the expense of Carey Mulligan in " Promising Young Woman" ? I have my view but admit Alfre Woodward does give a fine performance but I've seen finer this year. The movie Clemency written and directed by Chinoye Chukwa who was inspired to write the film after the widely protested execution of Troy Davis in Georgia in 2011. Her six years of research included running a film programme for inmates in Ohio and advocating for retrials in unsafe cases. It's inconceivable to me as I find the concept of human execution horrific that ten years after Chinoye Chukwa started the project that the Donald Trump in the lead up to leaving The White House could approve 6 executions in one month before the Biden inauguration. This movie is tough to watch especially the beginning snd I think that's why I didn't get any hope from the story or any empathy with the main character Bernadine the Head Warden on Death Row where she "has just being doing her job" after years of carrying out death row executions that now have taken a toll on the emotional life of Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate Anthony Woods played so well by Aldis Hodge. Another good performance also from Richard Schiff as Marty Lumetta who's advocating for clemency for his client Anthony . Another film on the same subject "Mercy" 2019 is far superior to "Clemency " it starred Michael B Jordan and was totally ignored by BAFTA and OSCAR and we all know it's not always the best film or performances that get the accolades. Due to the film's heavy subject matter and sometimes depressing tone, director Chinonye Chukwu made sure to keep the tone on set happy and light, and checked in on actors between takes. I can understand why because Clemency is heavy and depressing in contrast to "Mercy" a true story that did have some very dramatic and hard to watch scenes but left the audience uplifted and hopeful of change . It's very encouraging to read that Civil rights groups are pushing Joe Biden to fulfill promise of ending the death penalty.

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.