Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Dir: Dan Gilroy

2017

****

I thought Roman J. Israel, Esq. explored the topic of modern-day revolutionism brilliantly. Roman, played by Denzel Washington in what has to be his best performance in years, is an idealistic defense lawyer who has been working for $500 a week at a small law firm in Los Angeles for several decades. He’s an old-school civil rights student who knows law like the back of his hand. In his two-partner office, Israel is responsible for preparing briefs, often focusing on the civil rights of their defendants, while William Jackson, the firm's owner and a well-respected professor, focuses on the courtroom appearances that Israel struggles with, due to social anxiety. Roman could be seen as somewhat autistic, maybe even aspergers, although this is never confirmed or even addressed. Roman’s life becomes complicated after Jackson suffers a fatal heart attack. He learns that the firm is broke and will have to close, all to be handled by Jackson’s former student, George Pierce (Colin Farrell). Pierce, who greatly admired Jackson and is impressed by Roman’s legal mind (“worth $500 an hour”), offers a job at his own large firm. Israel rejects this offer for moral reasons, believing that Pierce is simply just another greedy lawyer. Roman then meets Maya (Carmen Ejogo) during a job interview at a local activist network. The interview does not go well due to Roman’s lack of tact and blunt nature but Maya asks him to speak at an upcoming meeting organizing a protest. Unfortunately this also goes badly. Lost, Roman reluctantly takes a job with Pierce. He is a poor fit, clashing with senior partner Jesse Salinas after he mockingly laughs at a joke Salinas makes about battered women, eventually called him a tourist in the world of law. Roman has spent years developing a brief that he believes will bring social reform to the unfair use of plea-bargaining to induce guilty pleas in the justice system. Though short on interpersonal skills, he is gifted with a phenomenal memory as well as strong personal convictions on the meaning of justice, which he has pursued at the expense of family. Feeling this is his last hope, and that Pierce might have an ounce of good in him being a student of Jackson's, he approaches Pierce with his idea. Pierce rejects him and assigns him standard clients. Roman, deflated, begins to wonder what his life’s work has all been for. Roman is assigned his first case - Derrell Ellerbee, a young man arrested for murder. Ellerbee tells him that he is willing to tell police the whereabouts of the actual shooter, longtime criminal Carter Johnson, and will testify against him. Roman goes behind Salinas' back to negotiate a plea deal with the district attorney when no one is available to speak to him, but the prosecutor rejects his offer and hangs up on Israel after he insults her unsympathetic counter-offer to his bargain. No deal is struck and Ellerbee is murdered as a snitch. Roman's mishandling of Ellerbee's case leads to trouble for the firm and Pierce berates him for his insubordination. To sack him would suggest guilt, so he is kept on but is told he will eventually be let go. That evening Roman is mugged and beaten by a homeless man he attempted to help. He becomes downcast and cynical, illegally using the information he received from Ellerbee to anonymously collect the $100,000 reward for Johnson's location. Sold out, he indulges in luxuries he had previously eschewed. It starts with a weekend away at the beach and develops into a move into a fancy penthouse apartment. To Roman’s surprise, Pierce apologizes to him, revealing that the death of Jackson and his observations of his dedication to justice has touched him. He reforms his firm to add a new focus on pro-bono cases, headed by Roman. Things begin to look good. Maya calls Israel to ask him out on a date, where she shares some of her struggles with idealism and thanks Israel for his inspiration about progressive lawyering and advocacy, but he appears unmoved as his new materialistic outlook prevents him from enjoying the changes he has inspired. When Pierce calls Israel to meet a new client arrested for murder, who turns out to be Carter Johnson, his world comes crashing down once more. At the jailhouse, Johnson accuses Roman of divulging privileged communications to collect the reward. Having accepted that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, Johnson's only goal is to torment Roman with the threat of jail time or even death. Roman finally suffers a breakdown and renounces his greedy, self-centered worldview. Roman returns the reward (with a promise to repay the $5,750 he spent), reconciles with Maya and Pierce and tries to motivate them to pursue their inner sense of justice. His reconciliation is played out by Roman writing a legal paper challenging himself while also defending himself. There was something poetic about it and I think the film would have been better if it had been left there but I’m afraid Dan Gilroy tarnishes his own story by adding an unnecessarily heavy-handed conclusion. I love how none of the characters were stereotyped, especially Colin Farrell’s Pierce, but the whole story seemed to go down the unfortunate Hollywood route towards the end. Gilroy has had a rather colourful career, writing films such as Freejack, The Fall, Real Steal and Kong: Skull Island while also writing and directing the brilliant Nightcrawler. You can’t really accuse him of having a particular style, he is an every-man, but with Nightcrawler and Roman J. Israel, Esq. you can see the sort of film he clearly wants to make. It’s all good but I wonder whether he still has too much Hollywood from his other work inside of him. The performances are great, and I loved the story but sometimes an ending can have such damage to a film you can be forgiven for feeling just a little bit cheated. However, it’s still a great film and an overlooked one, in spite of its ending.