Richard Jewell (2019)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½

Clint Eastwood seem to be specialising on directing movies based on true stories of modern day heroes as evident by his more recent offerings in the likes of "Sully", "The 15:17 to Paris" and "American Sniper". In "Richard Jewell" he once again does us all a favour by telling us a little known but incredible recent true story about a security guard who saved thousands of lives from a bomb during the 1996 Olympics in USA, only to be falsely accused by the FBI as being the one who planted the bomb himself. This is further fueled by the media which venomously published headline stories accusing him of being the terrorist involved in the bombing.

Richard Jewell is portrayed very believably by Paul Walter Hauser. Richard Jewell was accused to be a terrorist just because he apparently fit the profile of a potential terrorist being a loner, overly obese, a mommy's boy and having displayed an over zealous enthusiasm to be a law enforcement to the extent of being caught impersonating one! Paul is supported by a wonderful cast which includes Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, John Hamm and Olivia Wilde. The movie is well paced and tells the story in chronological order which makes its very engrossing. Great performances all around, a fantastic story coupled with a good script makes this an easy two hours watch.. I am just surprised this movies did not garner much attention in the recent Academy Awards.  Watching the story unfold, it makes the viewer feel for the victimised Richard and his mother, and we get really angry with how ugly and cruel the government as represented by FBI and the media can get.

Actor Paul Walter Hauser on the left and the real Richard Jewell on the right

Eventually justice is served but the damage done is irreversible. I was hoping the end credits would typically show us photos of the real Richard Jewell and the key characters in his story and a bit more of what happened to him since. Unfortunately all we got was a one liner to say Richard Jewell died of a heart attack when we was only 44 years old in 2007. Nevertheless, Clint Eastwood has successfully directed yet another thought provoking true story that is entertaining and informative showing us the ugly truth of the law enforcement and the media today in the process.