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| Images courtesy of Amazon Prime |
Character actress turned filmmaker
Maggie Betts first worked her way into the director’s chair with the 2010
documentary film The Carrier about an HIV positive family in Zambia before
returning several years later the short film Engram followed by her 2017
Vatican nun drama Novitiate. A
socially conscious director with former ties to previous first lady Laura Bush
and her work in numerous United Nations organizations including UNICEF, the newcomer
has quickly established herself as an important, stirring new voice among
female filmmakers in today’s cinematic playground.
Her latest upcoming endeavor The
Burial, a legal drama based loosely on the true story of black American
lawyer Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx) and his white client Jerry O’Keefe (Tommy
Lee Jones) in their lawsuit against the Loewen funeral company, represents a
new shift in direction for the filmmaker while keeping in the socially
conscious themes of her previous works.
The true story documented in the 1999 New Yorker article by Jonathan
Harr and written for the screen by Betts and Doug Wright centers around 1995
when beleaguered funeral home business owner Jerry sues the Loewen Group over a
contract dispute.
Lensed beautifully in 2.35:1 panoramic
widescreen by legendary Happiness and The Wrestler cinematographer Maryse
Alberti and scored by recurring Jordan Peele musical collaborator Michael
Abels, the film looks and sounds splendid and is appropriately tense when it
needs to be. What sets this work apart
from her prior films is the emphasis on not only leading male characters but it
particularly goes out of its way to challenge racist stereotypes about
attorneys and their clients without being preachy about it. In other hands this would’ve been sermonizing
but director Betts approaches the beast much like the defense attorney, confidently
taking the bull by the horns and charging on ahead undeterred.
At once a courtroom drama that upends
prejudices within the legal community with Jamie Foxx giving a, naturally,
fantastic performance in the role of hotshot attorney Willie E. Gary who is
gradually humbled by his experiences with his troubled, desperately in need
client Jerry O’Keefe. Tommy Lee Jones,
like Foxx, is also a master of the acting profession and seeing these two Oscar
winners onscreen together is kind of wonderful.
Also making notable appearances are Alan Ruck as a prejudiced insurance
attorney, Mamoudou Athie as one of Jerry’s key legal advisors, Jurnee Smollett
as the Loewen group’s defense counsel and a particularly slimy Bill Camp as corporate
bigwig Raymond Loewen.
A sizably expensive Amazon Prime/MGM
legal drama set for limited theatrical release on October 6th
followed by a streaming release on October 13th, The Burial in
a sea of legal dramas which aren’t going away anytime soon is one of the better
ones. Strong enough to engender interest
in the remainder of Maggie Betts’ track record, the film offers up a powerful
true story aided by gifted actors who make the proceedings engaging and even
fun at times. There’s a reason Willie E.
Gary is, to this day, one of the wealthiest attorneys in America and it
absolutely comes across onscreen with Foxx’s charismatic and impassioned
performance.
--Andrew Kotwicki
