The Ups and Downs of Justice on Trial
Review and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
The Burial (Margaret Betts) rated R 127 min.
Here’s the trailer:
Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: (This docudrama, “Inspired by True Events,” has fictionalization added for dramatic effect as noted with graphics at the end by the filmmakers.) In 1995 we find Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones), a decent man living in Biloxi, Mississippi whose only desire in late-life is to leave his 8 funeral homes in the southern part of the state to his children and grandchildren, but due to some bad investments (with a guy we later learn is now a felon) his finances are extremely tight, leading the state Insurance Commission to threaten to revoke his funeral-insurance-license, a necessity for the well-being of his company. In desperation, he turns to Canadian “death business” entrepreneur, Raymond Loewen (Bill Camp), who owns hundreds of funeral homes in the U.S. O’Keefe, along with his long-time-attorney, Mike Allred (Alan Ruck), fly to Vancouver, B.C. to meet with Loewen, resulting in an agreement O’Keefe will sell just 3 of his properties to have enough new cash to satisfy the insurance honchos while Loewen won't sell burial policies in southern MS (oddly enough O’Keefe signs this agreement, Loewen does not; however, the reason for this isn’t explained to us [?], although it would seem to have big-consequential-bearing on the trial which later emerges).
Yet, the deadline time for buying Loewen’s share of O’Keefe’s businesses passes; without those needed financial resources the state's coming down hard on O’Keefe (by the time of the trial they temporarily suspend his license, forcing him to take out a third mortgage on his home to keep solvent), so he has no other choice than to sue Loewen for breach of contract and fraud (a devious strategy of putting O’Keefe out of business so Loewen can absorb all the funeral homes to add to his already-large-empire; he gloats about the U.S. having many elderly citizens who can provide an ongoing-supply of business for him). Rather than go forward with Mike, though, a young attorney, Hal Dockins (Mamoudou Athie), also working with O’Keefe suggests they go to Florida to recruit flamboyant-lawyer Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx [so far, every character I’ve cited is based on an actual person, although a few others were created for this plot]), whom we’ve already seen to be a persuasive orator as he filled in for his cousin as a preacher one Sunday morning in an enthusiastic Black church. Hal and Jeremiah see Willie in a courtroom, where he’s just as impactful on a jury so they encourage him and his entourage to join their case, though Mike’s concerned this new guy is a personal injury lawyer, not someone versed in contract law (still, he’s built a hugely-successful-career, rising from impoverished-beginnings as a sharecropper’s son to being married to stunning Gloria Gary [Amanda Warren] while owning a mansion, a private jet, many other trappings of luxury).
Mike’s especially resistive to Willie acting as Lead Counsel, but Willie makes it clear that where the trial will be held the population is about 70% Black so putting a White lawyer in front of the likely-jury-members is a bad idea; Willie takes over. Pompous and confident Loewen counters by bring in high-powered/aggressive Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett [fictional, but Loewen did have Black male lawyers representing him]), top of her class at Harvard Law School, former clerk to a Supreme Court Justice, etc., privately called “The Python.” Gary can brag he hasn’t lost a case in 12 years, but his team seems to have no hope of winning this one. Once we get into the trial in Jackson, MS things begin to go wrong for O’Keefe because under oath he (and Gary) are blindsided by the investment situation with the now-felon, leading to his current financial difficulties, with Jeremiah putting Mike back in as Lead Counsel, but then he’s attacked by Downes about his grandfather being in the Ku Klux Klan (at least he didn’t have to publically repeat what he privately told Willie, that he’s a “little prejudiced” against Black people), so Mike voluntarily leaves the case, putting Willie back in charge.
During a weekend break, Willie goes home to FL, Jeremiah flies there to tell him in person he’s ready to abandon the lawsuit, but before that conversation can be completed Hal calls with news about how Loewen made a deal with the National Baptist Convention (a large organization of Black churches [another actual aspect of this story]) where he was going to provide financial support and jobs, but Hal can come up with several witnesses that do then testify (great montage) how the Loewen Group used that connection to bilk low-income-Blacks they were supposed to be helping. ⇒Loewen’s so upset with this public revelation he comes to the trial, but under questioning from Willie he admits his scam and how the profits have enhanced his lavish life-style, has no regrets about what he’s done. In desperation, his team arranges for a meeting with O’Keefe’s team to try to find a settlement amount, but Jeremiah rejects some hefty offers because he wants to publically punish Loewen. Ultimately the jury does that for him, deciding on $500 million in damages, which, although later reduced to $175 million (much of which O’Keefe donates to help the poor in his area), leads to Loewen being ousted as CEO, the company going bankrupt, and Willie Gray becoming a top trial lawyer, winning cases against the likes of Anheuser-Busch & the Walt Disney Company.⇐
So What? If you’d like to know more about the facts behind what’s on screen here in The Burial (which seems to me to be more reality than fiction), you can consult an extensive timeline of the arc of the Loewen Companies, then delve into this detailed account of the genesis/development/ procedures of the film. I don’t find anything in the fictionalization aspects of this narrative to undermine or minimize the truth of what occurs as a few guys fight diligently for justice against a greedy, soulless corporation (by the latter days of the trial, after the revelation about Allred’s KKK connection, Gary’s associates walked off the case, even as Mike did the same) with just Willie and Hal continuing on with Jeremiah. And, while this story isn’t as purely-courtroom-set as the last film I reviewed (The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial [William Friedkin]; review in last week's October 12, 2023 posting), it shows what led up to the dispute between O’Keefe and the Loewen Group but doesn’t reveal key aspects of the situation until we encounter them in the trial (Loewen never signing the agreement with O’Keefe; the rip-off with the National Baptist Convention; shocking news about O'Keefe and Allred), so, just like with … Court-Martial we only witness some key aspects of what goes on via courtroom testimony, once again leaving it up to us to decide who to believe (though we do, through pre-final credits-graphics get necessary info on what the result/aftermath of the trial was whereas with … Court-Martial we’re left to assume Lt. Maryk's acquitted of the charges against him).
One crucial aspect of this film that’s not so clear in terms of its real-world-accuracy is Gary’s inspiration to become a lawyer. In the screen-version he tells O’Keefe it resulted from an incident years ago when he secured an apartment for himself and Gloria over the phone, but when they showed up the landlord—apparently surprised they were Black—changed his story, offered no vacancies for them. Willie says he immediately consulted a phone book, found a law school, made it his mission in life to prevent other Blacks from being burdened with such racism; however, if you consult this History vs. Hollywood site you’ll find him simply attending law school at North Carolina Central U. in 1971 after graduation from Shaw U. in Raleigh, NC, without a mention of his motivation.
Even if that aspect of the film is created for dramatic effect, it certainly reflects the ongoing-racism that’s burdened our society since its inception and fits well with director Betts’ (an African-American woman) intentions of bringing racial conflict into her film (as explored in the TIME citation above) to better emphasize how the Loewen Group exploited those economically-burdened-people of color, so she wrote the victims’ testimonies shown in the film (co-scriptwriter is Doug Wright)—there’s also a quick bit about how Southern monuments were built on the unmarked graveyards of slaves. The acting in this cinematic exploration is top-notch from all concerned, with the 2 Oscar-winner-male stars evenly balanced in dominating their scenes by Foxx’s flamboyance and Jones’ quiet-but-determined-presence, although he has some effectively-fiery-outbursts also. Nevertheless, the dynamic Mame Downes, the conflicted Mike Allred, the voice-of-reason Hal Dockings, and the self-absorbed Raymond Loewen are also crucial to conveying what needs to be understood in these encounters, just as Pamela Reed as Jeremiah’s wife, Annette, and Dorian Mesick as Willie’s devoted-associate, Reggie Douglas, make useful additions in their screen time as well. We can only hope vicious corporate moguls like Loewen find their come-uppance in courts, slick-stock-trading, or other means to de-fang them of their venom, but justice often depends on a lawyer’s ability to sway a jury, so we have to hope law schools produce at least some graduates who honor their professions more so than their material success (or, at least like Willie Gary, they'll find a way to balance both).
Bottom Line Final Comments: The Burial is yet another film mostly intended for streaming that had a limited release in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters October 6, 2023 (so limited it was unnoticed by Box-Office Mojo, or at least no proceeds were reported)—not that it would have mattered much to try to compete in the public arena where Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Sam Wrench) seems to be what everyone was watching when it made its debut last weekend in 3,855 domestic venues, taking in $92.8 million in grosses, with a worldwide total (sure to grow) of $123.5 million. For those of us currently being COVID-cautious, staying away from theatrical crowds, The Burial made for a fine alternative-stay-at-home-streaming-experience on Amazon Prime VIdeo (free to subscribers, also available via a 30-day-free trial) where I would encourage you to explore it. The CCAL’s with me on this too: Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 89%, Metacritic average score at 74% (they call such a result “Generally Favorable”), so I do hope you’ll consider giving it a stream.
While you’re deciding about that, I’ll offer my usual review-ending-device of a Musical Metaphor; often, I have to semi-meditate on what to use, but this time the film itself helped me out when, with the final credits. came The Ruffin Brothers’ (David and Jimmy) version of “Stand By Me” (written in 1960 by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stroller; on the Ruffins’ 1970 album I Am My Brother’s Keeper) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU83uQOGaLk, which, in its soulful rendition, fit the mood of the film quite well, even though it’s essentially a love song about a couple giving each other needed support “When the night has come / And the land is dark”; it can also been understood in this context as Willie saying to Jeremiah to push away fear and pessimism because “I won’t cry, I won’t cry / No, I won’t shed a tear /Just as long as you stand, stand by me.” However, I grew up with King's hit version of the tune (on his 1961 Don’t Play That Song album) so I’ll include it here if for no other reason than to see him singing it on some TV show (maybe ABC TV’s American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark) surrounded by dancing White teens, so it feels a bit metaphorical to me that this self-confident Black man is seemingly in charge of the situation as he’s the center of attention providing a stimulus for these dancers (who, of course, don’t look like him), just as Willie E. Gary (with aid from the other remaining Black attorney for the prosecution, Hal Dockings) proves to be in command of this court case, saving Jeremiah O’Keefe’s business for his progeny (his main intention in bringing this lawsuit) and conquering the assumed-command of Raymond Loewen, the most crucial White characters in this story. That may be a bit-far-fetched of an explanation for this second version of the song, but it works for me, just like the film as a whole does from start to finish.
SHORT TAKES
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
(1) Disney movies song hits over the years; (2) Actors' strike taking personal financial tolls.
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