Nov 7, 20234 min read

The Unforgivable

THE UNFORGIVABLE REVIEW : IT’S BULLOCK’S UNFILTERED PERFORMANCE THAT KEEPS YOU HOOKED AND NOT THE FILM Critic's Rating: 3.0/5STORY: Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) is released from prison after serving a 20-year jail term. Once she becomes part of the society, the past always comes to haunt her. REVIEW: There’s a moment in Sandra Bullock starrer, ‘The Unforgivable’, the Oscar winner’s second Netflix film that unravels the mystery behind casting Viola Davis in a seemingly unimportant side role. This reveal gives away the crux of its story - an emotional core of longing, regret and loss - for Ruth Slater’s (Sandra Bullock) sister. Despite a controlled and powerful performance from Bullock and credible supporting roles for Viola Davis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Rob Morgan and Linda Edmond, the rest of this film is stretched, uneven and bleak to the point of boring. ‘The Unforgivable’ is a drama about a female prisoner’s post-prison life after having killed a cop. As the world around her is unwelcome, hostile, and difficult to survive, her biggest challenge is to find out about her kid sister who had to be put in the foster care adoption system. It sets out to mark the white privileged killer as ‘unforgivable’ with sudden reactions and responses for people interacting with her, and it magnifies the wrong that she committed by highlighting the victim as a police officer. Although the film is titled ‘The Unforgivable’, it doesn’t succeed in making you think about the nature of repentance and the lack of forgiveness that can hurt the lives of those reformed by the prison system. Ruth Slater is unable to accept that her life can be close to ‘normal’ –even when a colleague shows affection and wants to befriend her. Her own ability to forgive herself is reflected in each action and choice that she makes. Two separate tracks exist in the story but don’t necessarily add tension or drama. To the victim’s sons, the cop’s children, Ruth deserves to be punished again. The younger amongst them suddenly pivots to violence and aggression in the story in a most unconvincing manner. Peter Craig, Hillary Seitz, and Courtenay Miles co-write a screenplay that could have made its point a lot more effective in a shorter, more power-packed span of time. Based on a British mini-series from 2009 by the same name, which in turn, is based on a book, Unforgiven by Sally Wainwright, the film begins with bright, blinding flashbacks of Ruth Slater’s reason for getting a 20-year jail term. Bit by bit memories of this life-changing incident, the crime that she committed to return to her in flashes, each time adding details and making it more unbearable. Her kid sister, Katy, witnessed this crime too. She could never reconnect with the kid that she raised (both their parents are dead) despite writing to her as the rules of prison allow. Now as she returns to society, facing terrible living conditions and tough financial challenges of not finding skilled work, she desperately wants to reconnect with her kid sister. And in the process, gets a lawyer (Vincent D’Onofrio), who lives in her previous home with his Black wife (Viola Davis), to help in her search. This script has undergone changes and added new writers in its long journey to actually becoming a film. Sandra Bullock has co-produced it, giving the dour, unsmiling, and burdened character her best, bringing in layers of grief and poignancy. A revenge subplot of those who she has wronged is added to the story to make it dramatic, but it could well have been done without. Ruth Slater is seen struggling from the word go. Be it holding on to her father’s house, bringing up her kid sister by herself, surviving life in a closet-sized prison cell, finding the right job despite having earned carpentry skills in jail, and living life in a cramped, dirty shared accommodation with society rejects hammers in the lack of hope and hardship in her life. In contrast, her sister’s life now has comforts and potential for an actual future, save for a few hiccups. It renders the reality of those in America that struggle for money quite visibly. The historic city of Seattle is not pretty, instead, it is crowded, busy and unforgiving in its pace of life. For a person returning to life after prison, nothing comes easy. Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, the film subtly focuses on the unforgiving nature of a legal system for those that survive prison. Nothing is simple for them to achieve. Support for their efforts is sparse and questions raised to them are sometimes absurd. The rules of engagement make their lives harder. This is why the film’s central twist surprises the audience and also drives home the unfairness of it all. This crime drama features strong performances and an inspired storyline. It is interesting that OTT has focused on crimes around or related to young children in their recent line-up of films; highlighting the social aspect of these situations. But at its plodding pace and forced narrative, ‘The Unforgivable’ lacks thrill and drama to keep you hooked. Watch it for Bullock’s transformative, unfiltered performance.