RICHARD JEWELL (2019)

Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) was a security guard at the '96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta whose vigilance saved many lives when he spotted a suspicious backpack that held a powerful nail bomb. Since no good deed goes unpunished, the news media and FBI ganged up on him as a "person of interest," and made his life miserable before finally clearing him. Jewell seems simple- and single-minded in his (over)zealous devotion to law enforcement, but he retains enough smarts to keep his head above water--and is helped by a dedicated lawyer (Sam Rockwell) and his devoted mother (Kathy Bates). How Hauser didn't get an Oscar for this movie is beyond me--he is just superb and completely believable--always sympathetic, often naive but never pitiful. Well done!