 "The Burial Movie Review: Jamie Foxx-Tommy Lee Jones courtroom drama thrives on star power")
The Burial is a courtroom drama where Jamie Foxx stars as a flamboyant Black lawyer fighting a case for Tommy Lee Jones’ all-American underdog, against a crooked White tycoon played by a relatively less-known actor. Which means you know how the story will end long before it does even if you haven’t heard of the true incident the film is based on. The Maggie Betts directorial primarily banks on its lead cast to score as retro-style legal drama and as taut storytelling highlights big-business corruption to set up a David-versus-Goliath premise, the narrative creates scope for a subtext of racism, too.
Betts, in her second feature film as director, has taken a few storytelling liberties while setting up a narrative that is based on a lawsuit filed by attorney Willie E. Gary on behalf of his client Jeremiah O’Keefe, against Canadian businessman Raymond Loewen and his deathcare company. The screenplay (Betts and Doug Wright) is loosely adapted from writer Jonathan Harr’s article about the case that the New Yorker published in 1999.
The film is reminiscent of the way legal dramas were made around three decades ago, and the old-school filmmaking style perhaps reflects Betts’ effort to recreate the mid-nineties, when the incidents occurred. The nineties were the heydays of bestseller novelist John Grisham’s legal thrillers, and screen adaptations of many of his books including The Firm, The Pelican Brief and The Rainmaker would go on to set the template for the Hollywood courtroom drama. The Burial serves as a feel-good throwback attempt that should please lovers of that generic era, typified by slow burn suspense, entertaining courtroom interrogations and grand soliloquies by the protagonist.
Foxx as the lawyer Willie E. Gary would seem cut out for such grand moments of spotlight basking in the courtroom. Listed as one of the richest lawyers in the world today, the real-life Gary rose from humble beginnings to scale the sort of success that only matches the larger-than life charisma he exudes. Foxx takes up the job of being Gary with gusto right from the start of the story, when we find him addressing a Sunday church gathering. It is a scene meant to establish Gary as a man who loves playing to the gallery and, as Foxx goes about deftly establishing that notion over the first few minutes of the film, you know you are in for another magnificent performance from the Oscar-winning actor of Ray.
At the other end of the personality curve is Tommy Lee Jones’ Jeremiah O’Keefe, a softspoken 75-year-old World War II veteran who once served as mayor of small-town Biloxi in Mississippi. Jerry, as he is known to family and acquaintances, runs a deathcare business that includes a few funeral homes. Faced with money problems, Jerry looks to strike a contract with the Canadian deathcare industry bigwig Raymond Loewen (Bill Camp).
The year is 1995 and Loewen believes the deathcare market in the United States is bound to grow, with the Baby Boomers generation likely to see an increase in number of deaths. He plans to expand business in the US aggressively. However, the deal sours, what with Loewen deliberately delaying the signing of contract. He is wasting time evidently, waiting for Jerry’s small business to go bankrupt, in which case he would be able to buy out the enterprise cheap. Jerry’s business lawyer (Alan Ruck) starts preparations to file a suit but the young attorney Hal Dockins (Mamoudou Athie), who’s helping out in the case, feels the charismatic Gary with his slant at impressing juries would be the right person to fight for the septuagenarian.
The makers of The Burial have been accused of taking creative liberties to turn a simple ‘money case’ into a tale of heightened drama for the screen. The film also makes a few obvious efforts to stay in sync with Hollywood’s ongoing wave of inclusivity. Loewen’s lead lawyer, for instance, is a Black female attorney named Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett, in a rather half-baked role). In reality, Loewen’s primarily Black team of attorneys was led by a Black male lawyer named Richard Sinkfield. The reorganised casting of Smollett as Gary’s adversary in court promises fireworks, but somehow that never happens.
You gloss over such issues because this is mainstream cinema, and director Betts has ultimately managed to deliver a feel-good film about an underdog’s victory over corporate evil. A lot of effort has understandably gone into setting up a screenplay that can cash in on the contrasting traits that Foxx and Jones bring alive as Gary and Jerry. The legal eagle Gary is as much a high-flying achiever with a knack for charming juries with his spectacular style in the courtroom as he is a devoted family man at home. Foxx’s triumph lies in the fact that he gives his character’s larger-than-life persona a lovable quality without ever striking a jarring note.
On the other hand, Tommy Lee Jones’ challenge in bringing alive Jeremiah O’Keefe was all about moving out of comfort zone. The Oscar-winning supporting actor of The Fugitive is known to be a true-blue movie star with an innate ability to wow with on-screen swagger. Jones is among actors who are invariably expected to add that extra zing to their characters with distinct screen presence. Being Jerry required the veteran actor to shed glamour and become an everyman — the guy next door whose only dream is to set up a family business for posterity. Jones brings alive Jerry’s mild-mannered traits with an understated ease.
The Burial could have been more significant as a courtroom drama with more in-depth writing and execution, though Betts does manage to set up a fairly entertaining film by putting together essential generic components in the right doses. She has done wisely to accord maximum space to her lead star, because the film ultimately clicks as the Jamie Foxx show.
Rating: 3 and half out of 5
The Burial is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and journalist who loves to write on popular culture.
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