Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) was convicted of murder following the shooting of a sheriff who came to evict her and her 5-year old sister Katie from their house. Now that she had been released after serving 20 years, she met a kind lawyer John Ingram (Vincent D’Onofrio), who could get her back in touch with Katie (Aisling Franciosi), who is now in college as a piano prodigy, adopted and raised by the Malcolms (Richard Thomas and Linda Emond).
Sandra Bullock totally shed off all her Hollywood star glamor to portray a stern-faced, prison-hardened Ruth. In the whole film, Bullock never had a smile pass her lips as her character Ruth shuttled between her jobs at the fish processing center and carpentry work at the civic center. As Ruth, Bullock had to be tough as she had to face people who only saw her as a cop-killer and an ex-con, but she still managed to make her sympathetic.
Vincent D’Onofrio played John Ingram the man who now owned the house Ruth lost, who just so happened to be a lawyer who did pro-bono work. Viola Davis was a surprising choice to play Ingram’s wife Liz, who did not like the idea of a cop-killer in her home. Jon Bernthal, who has awards buzz for his work in “King Richard” (2021), played Ruth’s friendly co-worker Blake. It was also good to see John-Boy Walton Richard Thomas in a film role again.
Tom Guiry began his career as a child actor as the lead character in “The Sandlot” but now at 40, he played Keith Whelan, the creepy elder son of the sheriff Ruth killed. Will Pullen played the younger Whelan brother Steve, who was having a rough patch with his wife Hannah (Jessica MacLeod). Their characters provided the suspense angle of the film, but I felt the drama of the sisters could have been explored more if they were not there.
Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, this film was written by Peter Craig, Hillary Seitz and Courtenay Miles, adapted from the story of a 2009 British miniseries “Unforgiven” written by Sally Wainwright. Its twist, revealed in a most uncompelling manner, will make it popular among Netflix fans. The ending happened all too abruptly, ignoring all the psychological build-up that came ahead. Bullock, however, manages to give this grim story ample heart.
