The Burial

The Burial is a 2023 American legal drama film directed by Maggie Betts and written by Betts and Doug Wright. It is loosely based on the true story of lawyer Willie E. Gary and his client Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe's lawsuit against the Loewen funeral company, as documented in the 1999 New Yorker article of the same name by Jonathan Harr. It stars Jamie Foxx as Gary, Tommy Lee Jones as O'Keefe, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, and Bill Camp. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023, and was released by Amazon MGM Studios in a limited release on October 6, 2023, prior to streaming via Prime Video on October 13, 2023. Plot In 1995, financially troubled funeral home owner Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe is forced to sell parts of his business to meet financial demands by the Mississippi State Insurance Commission. He makes a contract with Raymond Loewen of the Loewen Group, who never follows through on their oral agreement. His young lawyer Hal Dockins suggests that Loewen is intentionally trying to run O‘Keefe into bankruptcy to snatch up his entire business. An enraged O'Keefe hires Willie E. Gary, a flashy Florida personal injury lawyer, at Dockins' suggestion, because he thinks that his white contract lawyer Mike Allred will be unable to convince the presumably black jury. Tensions between Allred and Gary rise when the latter is named lead attorney and refuses a settlement offer, instead raising it to $100 million. Upon receiving the offer, Loewen hires a black lawyer team fronted by Mame Downes for similar reasons.