“Clemency”– Movie Review

 

This week, I attended the opening night of the 2019 New Directors/New Films festival, screening the New York Premiere of “Clemency”, a drama, starring Alfre Woodard, Wendell Pierce and Aldis Hodge

Synopsis

When a long-time prison warden becomes overwhelmed by executions, can she prevent the next one when she suspects the inmate may be innocent?

Story

After years of overseeing her prison’s executions, they are beginning to take its toll on Warden Bernadine Williams (Woodard).  Comforting friends and family members of the inmates destined for capital punishment is draining, as is the execution process itself.  Following a prisoner’s particularly problematic death by lethal injection, Bernadine finds herself haunted by this experience; she reacts by hanging out in bars after work in order to self-medicate.   In addition, the relationship with her husband Jonathan (Pierce) is collapsing as a result. Her home life is just as troubling as her professional life.

Due up next is Anthony Woods (Hodge).  All during his trial as well as his incarceration, Woods has been adamant about the fact that he is innocent.  Given that his execution date is soon approaching, he and his lawyer Marty (Richard Schiff) have been accelerating their efforts to get him exonerated.  At the very least, Woods seeks clemency from the governor’s office in order to avoid execution. Marty decides to try the case in the court of public opinion -- he takes to the media in order to get Woods’ story some much needed publicity, hoping that enough advocates can influence the governor’s opinion.

The more Bernadine learns about Woods’ case, the more she begins to question whether the decision to execute him is correct.  Agonizing over this situation, she tries to be of as much assistance and support to the inmate as possible. Bernadine meets with Marty to discuss Woods, but she insists that her hands are tied in this matter.  Marty refuses to take this as an answer and vows to both Bernadine and his client that he will fight back as much as possible in as many ways as possible. On the day the execution is scheduled, Woods is ushered into the execution room with witnesses observing.  Can Bernadine go through with this or will she refuse to allow Woods to be executed?

Review

The main reason to see “Clemency” is its cast; there are top-notch performances here.  Having said that, however, the presence of these actors and their performance (both individually and collectively) cannot elevate a screenplay that has some obvious weaknesses here.  As a director, Chinonye Chukwu tends to linger on certain shots a little too long, almost to the point of creating an awkward moment. This script was somewhat ill-conceived. For one thing, it has an inconclusive ending that provides no clear resolution to the story.  Also, the protagonist, while a sympathetic character, is not necessarily designed in a way that lends her to be rooted for in a dramatic narrative.

This last point merits further attention.  The character of Bernardine is essentially drawn as a passive heroine; she has no arc.  In other words, we can see her conflict (albeit somewhat internal) and the audience can understand what she wants (or doesn’t want).  Yet, she effectively does nothing about either resolving her conflict or getting what she wants. We are given to understand that Bernardine is in turmoil and that it impacts her both professionally and personally -- but when her husband leaves her, it is temporary and he conveniently returns just as quickly as he moved out.  From a dramatic standpoint, this is all a bit too tidy; if he was really that disturbed by her behavior, he would not have moved out in the first place. Making this a throw-away story beat is a disservice to both the movie itself and its viewers.

Following the screening, there was an interview with writer/director Chinonye Chukwu.  She recalled her involvement began back in 2011 when she first heard about a real case of an execution being protested.  Due in part to a small budget, the film was shot in only 17 days.  When shooting the execution scenes, she retained a warden to help her block the scenes and make the process look as realistic as possible.  In fact, there were some other special considerations that had to be addressed when shooting those scenes:  A therapist was kept on set for these scenes in order to provide emotional support for the cast members and crew; some people who were cast as extras found themselves being triggered.