‘How do you keep doing it?’
Death row dramas are nothing new. Green Mile, Dead Man Walking and The Life of David Gale have all tackled this subject with varying degrees of success. Clemency probably runs closest to Green Mile in as much as it is just as much about those flicking the switch or administering the injection as it is about the person on the receiving end. The thing that marks Clemency out from its peers is that it doesn’t really concern itself with the guilt or innocence of the man behind bars. That question is left frustratingly but deliberately unanswered. Instead, director Chinonye Chukwu chooses to focus on the gruelling effect that death row has on everybody involved in the macabre process of state sponsored murder…
Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is the warden at a prison for men that have been sentenced to death. Years of administering the death penalty begin to take their toll on Bernadine, culminating in rare feelings of empathy for Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge) – a man reaching the end of the line following an alleged armed robbery.
Directing from her own script, Chukwu presents a character study of a woman slowly coming apart at the seams. Bernadine symbolises the dichotomy of being truly competent professionally but as a consequence of a shambolic personal life and Woodard is truly sensational in the leading role. Hodge also excels as the condemned man, as does Richard Schiff as Anthony’s crusading lawyer Marty. The latter serves as just another stooge to be eaten up and spat out by the exhausting American justice system, and the whole thing is a thoughtful meditation on capital punishment and the toll it takes on society.
Clemency is a quiet, subdued film with little hope shining through. Sometimes however, we need the darkness to remind us to strive for the light.