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.

[4] It stars Jamie Foxx as Gary, Tommy Lee Jones as O'Keefe, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, and Bill Camp.

His young lawyer Hal Dockins suggests that Loewen is intentionally trying to run O‘Keefe into bankruptcy by delaying the payment to snatch up his entire business at a cheaper cost.

In court, O'Keefe is cornered when Downes questions his character and points out his financial troubles stem from business deals with a now-convicted felon.

[13] In March 2018, Amazon Studios announced it was developing the film with Doug Wright writing the script and Alexander Payne in talks to direct.

The website's consensus reads: "A solid courtroom drama led by a pair of nicely contrasted performances, The Burial hits the expected genre beats -- and remains a crowd-pleasing treat at every turn.

"[23] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.