Viola Davis leads the way in a different kind of battle. Not just in Hollywood, but in this particular war for equality.
We have our first look at the new Netflix docuseries “Viggo Mortensen: Beyond the Law.” The Emmy and Golden Globe winner plays Mortenson, “a free speech and animal rights activist,” according to Netflix. It’s a role that’s different from his screen character, but his words ring true.
According to his bio, Mortensen is the “champion for equal treatment,” the man who saw past the “color of his skin” or the “color of his dog.”
“While he has been accused of breaking the law, he has also been accused of defending the law and working to make the law more accessible to marginalized communities and other vulnerable groups. In so doing, he has been arrested and put on trial dozens of times in the last few decades for his defense of the civil rights of African Americans, Latinos, women, workers, gay men and women, and immigrants,” his bio says.
“Viggo Mortenson: Beyond the Law,” which premiered Thursday night on Netflix, is a new documentary series chronicling the life and activism of Mortensen, a man we thought had long since been forgotten, one who has never received the love, recognition and adulation he deserves.
We’ll see if Mortensen has surpassed the color-blindness that he has claimed to preach. For he has been accused of “breaking the law” for more than a year now, which brings on the question of whether or not he is still a victim of the system.
This may be a good time to revisit his “You can shoot me, but you cant fight me” speech, given in 2015, when, in response to the tragic slaying of Trayvon Martin on February 26, he said:
“I don’t want you to fight me for the last time. I’d rather you kill me. And you’d have to kill me.”
There is
