Movie Review – The Unforgivable – Watchable Movie
Table of Contents
My Rating – 3 out of 5
Plot Summary (Storyline) of The Unforgivable
The Netflix release has largely been panned in mainstream media and by Movie critics as well but I sincerely found it to be quite watchable with a couple of interesting narratives but with some gaping holes as well. Sandra Bullock is Ruth Slater, who gets early release from prison, where she was incarcerated for the last twenty years on a murder charge and is now intent on locating her sister Katherine, who she’d left aged five, at the time of her imprisonment. But life as an ex-con is anything but easy, societal acceptance is hard to come by and marginalisation begins on the day of being accused, guilty or not guilty being immaterial to society’s judges.
Repatriation comes, if at all, at a huge cost, particularly for those who deserve a bit of sympathy. But Ruth is not just a murderer but a convicted Cop killer when she shot the Sheriff who had come to evict them from their family farm. Her parents were long dead, she was Kathy’s guardian as well. So her crime generates even less sympathy. Here as well, Ruth, on being released to the custody of her Parole Officer due to the lack of any family member hopes she has a job waiting for her as a carpenter. But a rude shock awaits her there too! The job’s gone as soon as her identity was revealed to the owner.
Ruth is forced to join a seafood processing plant to make ends meet. The place where the State has fixed for her stay is literally a flophouse where she bunks with three others. The overwhelming desire to find her long lost sister burns strong in Ruth. One day, she visits her old homestead which is now occupied by a interracial couple, Liz and John Ingram and their two sons. Seeing Ruth looking at their house from a distance, John invites her in, much to Liz’s dismay. When John goes to drop Ruth to the bus stop, Ruth discovers John is lawyer who does pro-bono work. She enlists his help to locate Kathy, albeit reluactantly on John’s part.
Meanwhile, the two sons of the slain Sheriff have also grown up and are aware of the fact that Ruth has been released into society. Considering how unfair that is, the younger one stalks Ruth and plans revenge for what she did to their family. The elder son however, advises restraint. But soon, the younger son Will, gets his message through to Steve, the elder one. Together, they plot to serve Ruth the same fate that was so cruelly snatched from them. Ruth and John, meanwhile, manage to tarck down Kathy and the family which has adopted her and now treats her as their own daughter.
Kathy has no memory of her life before her adoption, except violent nightmares and meltdowns forced by her scratchy rememberances. Ruth reaches out to her adoptive parents, requesting a meet to find out if Kathy remembers her or not, which they refuse. Thereafter, both lines of the story come to a violent climax, with no clear winners but lot of heartbreaks.
Conclusion – Movie Review of The Unforgivable
The directors leave quite a few questions unanswered. The backstory of why were Ruth and Kathy being evicted, what leads to the violent confrontation and could it have been avoided and though finding somebody has become easier, how John tracks down Kathy is not clearly enunciated. What then? Not clear. Sandra Bullock has clearly done a good job, but a lot of it seems rather muddled and pointless.
If you are in the mood for a lazy watch, you can give it a try, it’s not as bad as critics would have you believe. But it’s not a movie you’d go out of your way to watch, good acting or not.
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Oh, I really want to see this! ?
You would end up having mixed feelings about it!
Well, maybe I will wait to see it. I had mixed feelings on the Amazon Prime movie we watched last night, Being the Ricardos. I love Javier Bardem, but this movie had me confused a bit at times. Not Nicole’s best work either, though in some scenes she definitely looked and sounded like Lucille Ball.
Haven’t seen that so can’t comment… But Don’t Look Up also disappoints, with that star cast it’s quite sad how it has turned out…