"* Justice Triumphs Over Corruption *"
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What You Need To Know:
THE BURIAL is based on a real-life case and holds viewers in fascination over a unique type of court battle. It has pizzazz when Willie works his magic, yet also has many touching quieter moments where the major characters reveal the rough histories that drive them. THE BURIAL is easily one of the year’s best produced, best acted, best written movies. Both Willie and Jerry are Christians who love their respective families and have strong marriages. However, THE BURIAL has excessive, gratuitous, strong foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
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THE BURIAL is a rousing legal drama on Amazon Prime about a black lawyer who teams up with an elderly white client to press the case for a mammoth lawsuit against a large corrupt funeral home corporation that defrauds poor customers. THE BURIAL is easily one of the year’s best movies. However, it has excessive foul language, including a dozen “f” words and two strong profanities, so extreme caution is advised.
Starring Jamie Foxx in his most electric performance since his Oscar-winning turn as Ray Charles in RAY nearly 20 years ago, the movie wins viewers over to his true-life character Willie Gary from the beginning. Willie is first seen as the dynamic preacher in a Black church in 1995 Mississippi, talking about the Black church as a refuge from the lingering prejudices of the local society. (None of the movie comes across as woke or heavy-handed.)
Viewers then see Willie putting on a show as an attorney in a business lawsuit trial, where Jeremiah “Jerry” O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) is watching in the gallery. Jerry is the owner of an eight-location funeral home empire in Mississippi and has come to scout out Willie to be a lawyer in his massive lawsuit against a fraudulent Canadian funeral home corporation called the Loewen Group.
The company’s owner, Ray Loewen, offered to help the cash-strapped Jerry out by buying three of his funeral homes for $8 million, but let the deal languish for over four months after Jerry
signed the deal while Loewen didn’t. Smelling dirty dealings and desperate for the deal, Jerry has opted to sue Loewen to get the payments he deserves.
He brings in Willie, who insists on being the case’s lead attorney over Jerry’s longtime, White attorney Mike Allred. This doesn’t sit well with Mike, who harbors low-key prejudice against black people, but Willie brings in a team of black associate lawyers who get the case fired up.
To win, however, Willie must defeat a ruthless black female lawyer, Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett in an equally award-worthy performance). Both Willie and Mame realize they aren’t just up against each other in the courtroom, but must prove themselves to the local society around them and defeat their subtle prejudices, while OJ Simpson’s race-fueled murder trial is playing out on national TV simultaneously.
Can Willie and Jerry win the suit, or will Mame and the nasty villain Ray Loewen defeat them?
THE BURIAL is based on a real-life case and holds viewers in fascination over a unique kind of court battle. It has pizzazz when Willie works his magic. Yet, it also has many touching quieter moments as Willie, Jerry and Mame each reveal the rough histories that drive them.
The description of THE BURIAL may make it sound like the movie is a woke screed painting all whites as prejudiced, but the movie paints its characters and story with more nuance than that. For example, the character of Michael ultimately proves to have complex yet positive feelings. Also, the friendship between Willie and Jerry is an inspiring rebuke of the racial conflicts in their surroundings. Both Willie and Jerry are Christians who love their respective families and have strong marriages.
However, THE BURIAL has excessive, gratuitous foul language, including a dozen “f” words and two strong profanities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
