‘The Unforgivable’ (2021) Review: A Voice for Incarcerated Women
Nora Fingscheidt’s The Unforgivable is based on the 2009 British miniseries Unforgiven by Sally Wainwright. It revolves around the life of Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock), an ex-con who killed a police officer 20 years ago and tries to get back into society but deals with issues that are beyond her control. Ruth faces many challenges. She is desperate to find her younger sister Katie (Aisling Franciosi), who she had to leave behind following her incarceration and after her release, she is faced with significant obstacles that prevent her from meeting Katie. The film doesn’t only focus on how Ruth’s release affects Katie’s future, but how the lives of the victims’ are disrupted.
The beginning of The Unforgivable emphasises how Ruth is driven by the need to find Katie but unknown to the audience, the gravity of the crime has not yet been revealed. The audience sees how Ruth is treated by the various people in her life; her parole officer, Vince Cross (Rob Morgan), who is in charge of putting her back into society, reminds her that she is a cop killer and that is how everyone is going to see her. In her quest for redemption and reuniting with her sister, she visits their home, which is being occupied by John and Liz Ingram (Vincent D’Onofrio and Viola Davis). Ruth befriends John, a lawyer who believes that people should be given second chances, and requests for his help in finding Katie, whereas Liz is sceptical of her husband helping a former criminal. Likewise, Katie’s adoptive parents, a middle-class suburban family, Rachel and Michael Malcolm (Linda Edmons and Richard Thomas), share the same disinclination about Ruth re-entering their daughter’s life. All of these characters’ perceptions of Ruth differ, partially due to their socioeconomic status and how they are introduced to her.
The Unforgivable explores the experiences of a former convict when they have been through the system. To prepare for the role, Bullock interviewed women who are currently and formerly incarcerated to get a perspective on their lives. Per the movie’s press notes, she understood the flaws in the system and recognized how it limited former convicts from succeeding. She explains that the system is a spectrum and that it is based on your experience, upbringing, or privilege. There is no one representation of life after incarceration and that is an aspect that the movie explores, particularly by comparing Ruth’s friend and former convict Blake (Jon Bernthal) who works at a seafood plant. Though Blake’s experiences present the possibility of life after prison, this is not the case for many of the Black women who are currently or were formerly incarcerated. According to Just Security, the rate of incarceration for Black women is twice more than white women, and due to this unequal treatment, Black women make up 22% of the incarcerated population. The disproportionate sentencing of Black women is connected to intimate-partner violence and it is the second most common cause of death for Black women between the ages of 15–25. For Black women, there are added encounters that have a lot of consequences from domestic violence when they enter the criminal justice system due to the lack of crisis intervention programs and the increased possibility of a weapon being involved.
Bullock and Davis are massively talented and their performances are reflective of that. In her role as Ruth, Bullock was able to transform and present a new side of her skills in a way that has never been done before. Ruth is a tough and complex character, who is grounded within so many layers of trauma, experience and emotions. Hardly ever to perform a role like this, Bullock does her best to make her character tough and sympathetic at the same time. Ruth struggles and battles through many obstacles and yet, through the lens of the other characters and the changes in perspective, the audience is likely to find themselves rooting for Ruth.
As for Davis, while she isn’t given a lot of scenes to play around with, she never misses. Davis’s amazing performance as the tough lawyer Liz, who doesn’t warm up to Ruth, is completely understandable. Liz understands the situation and knows that Ruth comes from a place of privilege as a white woman, despite being released from prison after 20 years. In a scene where Ruth visits the Ingrams’ home to look for John, she comes face to face with Liz, who tells her coldly, “You’re not a victim”, a line that is echoed throughout the movie. It is a powerful piece of dialogue that manages to communicate the experiences of many incarcerated Black women who have fallen victim to an unjust system. Davis’ performance is gut-wrenching and with her ability to deliver a simple line with such depth and power, it is evident that she was the best choice for the role.
Fingscheidt’s decision to direct the story in a non-linear fashion reveals that the twist little by little is effective to a limit. However, that structure is predictable. Within the scenes where Ruth is either walking down the street or standing in her previous home occupied by the Ingrams, Fingscheidt cuts to flashback scenes of Ruth and Katie’s history. The clues are right there, presented within the shot, and perhaps it wasn’t the intention of Fingscheidt to shoot the scenes in that manner. Regardless, by choosing that direction, the ending was predictable, even if Davis and Bullock delivered a powerful performance in that scene.
The Unforgivable is a slow-burn movie that deals with complex themes of a formerly incarcerated woman that returns to the world but feels suffocated with the lack of opportunities presented to her. It is deeply emotional and truthful in its narrative, oftentimes portraying the hardships of incarcerated women in a system that does not care about their wellbeing at all. Ruth’s world is being upended and it affects not only hers but her victims and Katie, who had to live with the consequences of her actions. There is trauma and sadness and an inherent understanding of the socioeconomic status of people and their upbringing. The Unforgivable deals with the ultimate choice of doing the right thing and understanding the tragedy that the characters have endured.
The Unforgivable will stream on Netflix on December 10.
Edited by: Raayaa Imthiyaz
