FILM: MARSHALL

2017 / biography, crime, drama / 1h 58min / directed by Reginald Hudlin / country: USA | China | Hong Kong / language: English

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, Sterling K. Brown, and James Cromwell. Director Reginald Hudlin’s Marshall, is based on an early trial in the career of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. It follows the young lawyer (Chadwick Boseman) to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur (Sterling K. Brown) charged with sexual assault and attempted murder of his white socialite employer (Kate Hudson). Muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall partners with a courageous young Jewish lawyer, Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad). Together they mount the defense in an environment of racism and Anti-Semitism. The high profile case and the partnership with Friedman served as a template for Marshall’s creation of the NAACP legal defense fund. (source)

“ ‘Marshall’ is not a soup-to-nuts biography of one of the most significant figures in U.S. legal history, but a legal potboiler dependent on teamwork. It pays attention to issues of racial, religious and gender discrimination without wavering from its main objective: giving us an entertaining film about a couple of guys who are in way over their heads.”
–Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

“Rather than falling into the trap of blindly sanctifying Marshall based on his impressive list of future accomplishments, [director Reginald Hudlin] treats him as a rich, three-dimensional character, encouraging Boseman to imagine him as Denzel Washington did Easy Rawlins in “Devil in a Blue Dress,” or the way Spencer Tracy brought depth to Henry Drummond in “Inherit the Wind.” By approaching Marshall as an idealistic young trial lawyer, the film stands on its own as a compelling courtroom drama, complete with surprising revelations — and while we hope things will go his way, this case could just as easily prove the one that motivated his future crusade.”
–Peter Debruge, Variety