What’s it rated? R
When? 2021
Where’s it showing? Netflix
Nora Fingscheidt directs this grim, slow burning thriller about Ruth Slater (a stone-faced Sandra Bullock), who after almost two decades of incarceration for killing a cop is paroled into a society that can’t forgive her past. At every turn, when others learn of her conviction, she’s rejected.
Ruth’s only goal is to reunite with the sister she raised, who at 5 years old at the killing was taken into Social Services and placed with a new family, who’s none too eager to have their troubled adopted daughter, Katherine (Aisling Franciosi) relive her past trauma. With the help of a sympathetic attorney, John Ingram (Vincent D’Onofrio), Ruth makes some headway contacting Katherine, but the dead cop’s sonsāSteve (Will Pullen) and Keith Whelan (Tom Guiry)āhave other ideas of justice for Ruth.
Based on a British three-part miniseries from 2009, this film pares the story down to a joyless affair, but there’s a resolution that may be payoff enough for some viewers. There’s an especially good third act scene between Ruth and the attorney’s distrustful wife, Liz Ingram (Viola Davis), that electrifies and leads into a conclusion that offers respite from the film’s dark tone, and the acting is really good, especially from Bullock playing against type. It may not make you feel good, but The Unforgivable will make you feel. (112 min.) Ī
This article appears in Jan 20-30, 2022.