David's Merciful Life Journey

Bruce Von Stiers

It only takes a moment in time for a person's life to fall apart. Sometimes it's a job loss or a financial mishap. Most painful of all is the unexpected loss of a loved one. And the trauma from that loss can linger for years, sometimes for the rest of the person's life.

There is a drama film titled Reckless Mercy that uses the loss of a loved one as its starting place. David and his wife are in a grocery store parking lot. Their car is hit by another car and the wife, Hannah, dies.

For three years after Hannah's death, David is kind of surviving. He is a psychologist. David has started a self-help group for people whose loved ones have died tragically. Mainly those loved ones who were murdered. A student sitting in one of the sessions wants to know if they can forgive the person who killed their loved one. This kind of sets a theme in motion for the film. Can you forgive a person who has killed someone you love?

David's way of coping with the loss of Hannah is by drinking. But being stopped for drunk driving, and then assaulting the officer, lands David in a heap of trouble.

A chance courtroom encounter with an old flame, Julia, gives David a second chance. Julia wants David to try to council Wyatt, a man awaiting trial for killing his wife. Wyatt is not talking to anyone and has attempted suicide twice. David is skeptical that he can get through to Wyatt. But he tries.

There are a lot of different plot elements in the film. There is a previous connection between Wyatt and David that is revealed. David gets sober and has conflicts with his fellow psychologist, best friend and business partner, Brandon. So much so that Brandon leaves their joint practice. Wyatt pleads guilty to murder and is set to be executed, only to have the execution stayed. There is the sister of Wyatt's wife who would really like to see him dead. And then there is Wyatt's son Caden, who David promises to look after. But that's only a few plot elements. To say a whole lot more would be too much of a spoiler.

Skyler Scott played David. He co-starred in Chasing Glamor and had a supporting role in a film I recently reviewed, Second Draft. Chris Dettone played Wyatt. He co-starred in King of the Damned and The Rise of Elise Matthews. Anthony Dain played Brandon. He was in The Boy From Below and had a very funny role in Second Draft.

Jaime Lewis played Julia, David's former love interest and the person who put him together with Wyatt. She appeared in A Walk With Grace and Up The Score. Dawsyn Adams played Savannah, the student from David's support group and, later in the film, an advocate for clemency in Wyatt's sentencing. This is her first IMDB listed film.

Elizabeth Cave played Shannon, Wyatt's sister-in-law. She has appeared in several short films, including Midnight Tales and The Reckoning. Ramona Schwalbach played David's mother, who was a real piece of work. She appeared in Without A Doubt and a film I reviewed a short time ago, Good Luck To Me.

Patrick Johnston played Ethan, a member of David's support group, who has a larger stake in things later in the film. He co-starred in the film I mentioned, Second Draft, and co-starred in Haunted House of Pancakes. Michael Armstrong played Bishop Meyers, a church leader who David goes to a few times for guidance. Films he's appeared in include The Name of the Sun and Ohio 10.

Trey Weekley played Caden as a teenager, who learns a lot about what really happened when his mother died. He starred in Second Draft and The Unchained.

Other actors appearing in the film included Bryce Millikin, Jose W. Byers, Brian Bowman and Alex Dollison as young Caden.

The acting was well done and, while some of the characters weren't fleshed out as much as I'd like to have seen, they were still pretty good.

The film was produced by Jinyang Li and Doug Hughes. Nathan Weidner was the Executive Producer. He also produced Second Draft and Chasing Glamour.

The film was directed by Drew Adams. He also provided some of the story material for the film. The director of photography was Noah Tucker, who also was the director for Second Draft.

Reckless Mercy is a great drama film that asks a few moral questions. Can you ever really get over the loss of a loved one? Does an eye for an eye, or rather, a death in retribution for the death of a loved one, really solve anything? And, after suffering so much pain and loss, could you forgive and show mercy towards the person who caused it? These are questions that, in real life, are often quite messy but the film deals with in a low-key, almost calm manner.

Reckless Mercy is available on Amazon Prime and Roku.

You can watch the trailer for the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY1pc5KZvvE

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