By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Sandra Bullock is looking all dirty and haggard in the gritty crime drama
“The Unforgivable” from German director
Nora Fingscheidt.
“The Unforgivable” is currently available on Netflix and is based on the 2009 British miniseries “Unforgiven.” In the movie, Bullock stars as Ruth Slater, a middle-aged woman who is trying to get her life back on track after serving time in prison for killing a cop.
Ruth’s strait-laced parole officer Vincent Cross--played by the talented Rob Morgan who is starring as Earvin Magic Johnson’s father in the upcoming movie “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”--lets her know that she is still on a short leash.
Ruth can’t hang out with any felons, drink, or do drugs and by no means go anywhere near the victim’s family. It’s best for her to keep a low profile and slowly work her way back into society.
That is easier said than done. Who wants to really hire an ex-con? Although Ruth is qualified to work as a skilled laborer/carpenter and has a lead on a job, when she gets there, she’s told it’s no longer available. The employer must have checked out her background or maybe someone came by and told him about her. Ruth has an idea of who that person could be. Keith Whalen (Tom Guiry, “Roe v. Wade”) is one of the sons of the police officer that she killed, and the guy is out for revenge. He also wants his brother Steve (Will Pullen, “Greyhound” and TV’s “Dickinson”) to get on board and do something to her.
Ruth manages to find work gutting salmon at a fishery in Seattle. While there she meets a friendly co-worker named Blake (Jon Bernthal, “King Richard”) who likes her, but pulls back a bit when she tells him about her past and when he drops her off at the run-down halfway house, she calls home.
“The Unforgivable” takes some surprise twists that involve sisters Katherine (Aisling Franciosi, “The Nightingale”) and Emily (Emma Nelson, “Where’d You Go Bernadette”) as well as their parents, (Linda Emond, TV’s “Succession” and Richard “John Boy Walton” Thomas.
Things get even more dicey when Ruth returns to the crime house and has some choice words with Liz Ingram (Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and (Vincent D’Onofrio, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), the new owners who are renovating the place.
There is a lot shaking in “The Unforgivable,” yet Bullock’s cold, calculated and out of her comfort zone performance keeps things steady and makes it a powerful movie.
“The Unforgivable” is currently streaming on Netflix.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"THE UNFORGIVABLE"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
