A Pending Execution Has a Warden and an Inmate Facing Uncertainty

Alfre Woodard in "Clemency"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com 

Writer-director Chinonye Chukwu’s searing film, “Clemency,” is a movie that dives right into the gut-punch drama of its timely subject right from the opening scene, ensuring that the movie as a whole will focus on its topic with a tremendous amount of emotion and insight as it unfolds.  It’s here where you know that you’ll have a viewing experience that will move and haunt you, and also one that doesn’t take long to let you know that there’s so much more to this story than what you might have anticipated.

Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is a prison warden who has overseen several executions of death-row inmates.  When one of her inmates, Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge), faces the death sentence for a crime he might not have committed, Bernadine must soon reconsider the nature of her job and think about the tolls that it has had on her.

Woodard gives a heartrending performance as a warden who’s conflicted with the demands of her work.  She gives Bernadine a steely resolve as he goes about her day-to-day job, a persona that we know she needs in order to perform the duties of her profession.  As the film goes on, Woodard slowly begins to show the uncertainties that Bernadine has as a warden.  Her character is placed in one of the most difficult positions as she has to walk an inmate through on what to expect during the procedure, and we see how hard this begins to be for her, showing someone who’s not as confident in her work as she used to be.  This is a performance where Woodard shows many questions running through her head, and not seeming to be receiving many answers.  Because of that, you’re left worrying about her mental wellness as the mounting pressure of the situation engulfs her more and more, even when she shows her character trying to stay composed during everything that takes place.  There’s a psychological complexity to Woodard’s character, and her command of the role has you become focused on peering into her soul to see where her mind is going in these life-defining moments.

Hodge’s work in the film will have you feel the strength of the optimism and crushing hopelessness that he experiences throughout the movie.  This is a performance that will shatter you, one where Hodge strips his character down to someone who knows that death is a possibility for him and tries to avoid that outcome for as long as he can.  While his performance is excellent for the entirety of the movie, some of his best acting comes from scenes where his talking is limited.  This allows him to rely on his powerful facial expressions that are every bit as strong as any line of dialogue that he has.  One such scene has Anthony in his cell as Bernadine explains to him what will happen during the execution.  In this scene, we see him nodding his head in acknowledgment, but he’s tearing up and showing the weight of the words crashing into him as he contemplates what his next move might be.

There are several supporting performances that make their own impressions, such as Wendell Pierce as Bernadine’s loving husband, Jonathan, who sees the troubling effects that her job has  taken on her; Richard Schiff as Marty Lumetta, Anthony’s resilient lawyer; Danielle Brooks as Evette, Anthony’s girlfriend, who gives a blistering performance with just one scene; and Michael O’Neill as the compassionate prison chaplain. 

The screenplay by Chukwu takes a timely narrative and manages to keep it from being heavy handed.  This isn't meant to be an inspirational movie, but is instead a disquieting view at a jailhouse practice and the moral issues that stem from it.  The view into this issue is one where it's not a ripped-from-the-headlines approach, but is instead something that goes much deeper, placing a lot of focus on the characters as it explores the topic at hand from multiple perspectives, adding several avenues from where to express the complexities of the situation and showing us how it all impacts those who are involved.

With its character-centered format, the narrative spends an equal amount of time focusing on Anthony in prison and the work to rescind his death sentence, while also shedding light on Bernadine’s personal life and how her time as a warden has taken a toll on her.  In both instances, we're given enough chances to see how they handle themselves when they're alone with their thoughts, as well as how they interact with others as those supporting characters try to help Bernadine and Anthony navigate this situation.  This creates an intriguing view of seeing how someone from both sides of the prison system, an inmate and a warden, are impacted by the events depicted in the film.

As a director, Chukwu captures the deep connections between the characters as they go through a daunting event in their lives.  As they engage in conversations about how to handle the situation at hand, Chukwu makes us feel the tense atmosphere as they get closer to the date of the execution.  We see the walls begin to close in on Anthony as Chukwu displays the oppressiveness and downcast nature of the prison to an effect that has us feel the uncertainty that Anthony feels about his future.  Chukwu maintains a heart-pounding anxiousness throughout the film, crescendoing when we get closer to the end and having us experience an emotional exhaustion as we wait to see what will happen to Anthony.

“Clemency” offers much on which to ruminate in terms of what it has to say, and you’ll be left stricken by how hard it all hits.

Grade: A