Marshall 2017
This is a movie I have wanted to see for a while and I was able to borrow it through MoviesAnywhere’s Screen Pass. I do not know much about Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice. Rather than cover his life history, Marshall covers primarily one trial fairly early in Marshall’s career as a defense attorney working on behalf of the NAACP. The case, which accused a black chauffeur in Greenwich, Connecticut of raping the white woman who employed him got the attention of the NAACP since it could threaten employment of many black domestic servants. Marshall was a brilliant and confident lawyer, the only trial lawyer the NAACP had at the time and had argued and won his first case before the US Supreme Court at age 32, the same year as the events of this movie. It is interesting to see the strategy of the NAACP in taking on certain cases, mostly civil rights cases, but also cases like this where a hopefully innocent black person is accused of a crime because of race. Marshall is shown as very media savvy, but also invites some controversy. But the movie itself is more about this one case and we only see a little of what else is going on. The movie is completely effective as a courtroom drama, but the context of Marshall’s legal career and the developing civil rights movement really adds to the mix. Chadwick Boseman is very good as the charismatic, razor sharp Thurgood Marshall, but there are some very good supporting performances as well including Sterling K. Brown as the accused, and Josh Gad as a local lawyer who Marshall convinces to take the case. This is a nice way of showing you a little of a larger story by showing a smaller one and it really worked for me.
Written: 29 Nov 2020
Owned on: Digital