Clemency (2019)

Powerful death row drama - Clemency review by PD

This powerful piece is inevitably a difficult watch, but Alfre Woodard's admirably restrained, deeply felt performance means that you can't take your eyes off it for a second. Her burdened conscience takes centre-stage, but it’s the humanity and compassion invested across all the principal characters that makes this contemplative examination of the terrible weight of taking a life so commanding. Elegantly shot in widescreen compositions loaded with meaning, the film is perhaps a tad drawn out, but it’s never less than engrossing and often acutely affecting. A harrowing pre-titles sequence showing a botched state execution in agonising detail is very effective indeed, and whilst the film's core audience is likely to be people already ethically opposed to the death penalty, even some who are pro-capital punishment might find this persuasive food for thought.