Film Review: The Unforgivable is an emotionally charged drama

Sandra Bullock plays a woman who acknowledges her guilt but refuses to allow her second act to be defined by a single tragic mistake

Sandra Bullock in The Unforgivable

****

Still one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood, and especially in terms of her range, Sandra Bullock stars in The Unforgivable (15A), which opens with her character, Ruth Slater, being released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for the murder of a police officer. 

Warned by her parole officer not to contact the family of her crime, Ruth sets out to find her sister Katie (Aisling Franciosi), who was adopted as a little girl by the Ingrams (Viola Davis and Vincent D’Onofrio) when Ruth went to prison.

Nora Fingscheidt’s film is a multi-layered piece that focuses on Ruth’s quest to find Katie, but also explores the ripple effect of a violent crime, and how its consequences can continue to haunt its victims many years after.

An emotionally charged drama and a gripping thriller, The Unforgivable delivers plenty of unexpected twists (albeit, in the latter stages, one twist too far). 

There’s good support from Jon Bernthal as Ruth’s empathic co-worker and from Vincent D’Onofrio in his role as a conflicted lawyer, but Sandra Bullock dominates proceedings as a woman who acknowledges her guilt but refuses to allow her second act to be defined by a single tragic mistake. (Netflix)