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Dead Man Walking
(directed by Tim Robbins, 1995)
Sean Penn plays a murderer who gets lethal injection in Dead Man Walking. That's probably a spoiler, since in the film, he tries to escape getting the death penalty, but you know it's coming. He uses the help of Sister Helen Prejean, a nun, played by Susan Sarandon, to try to get him to escape the death penalty. She also serves as his spiritual advisor. Sister Helen Prejean is a real person who writes books about her experiences with being with inmates on death row. She's with them as they are executed. She is apparently very much against the death penalty.
This is a terrific movie. I first saw it back in 1995 when it was in movie theaters and I just now saw it again for a second time, all these years later. It was $5 at Wal-Mart on Blu-ray and I was strangely compelled to watch it again.
Single, virginal, middle aged Sister Helen Prejean is not your ordinary nun -- she doesn't dress up in a nun's habit and all that. Just simple clothes with a cross necklace. One day she gets a letter from Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) begging for help. She drives to the prison he's at and gets to know him. He says he's innocent of the crime he is accused of committing -- murdering two teenagers who were making out in a car one night in the woods and got surprised by Poncelet and a friend, who took them out, raped the woman and killed them both. But is he really innocent?
The film follows Sister Helen Prejean as she has talks with Poncelet, as well as talks with the parents of the victims who were murdered. Her talks with the parents are actually far more interesting and emotional than her talks with Poncelet. Frankly, although the talks with Poncelet are good, I am reminded a little of The Silence of the Lambs with Clarice and Hannibal, but with a killer who is of lower intelligence. The early 1990s seem to have been all about movies featuring sweet, innocent women getting caught up in discussions with criminals. It even seems like there's almost a love subtext going on between Sister Helen Prejean and Poncelet, but maybe it is just spiritual love. That's all I guess it could be. But look at how she reaches out to him as she watches him die while strapped to a table, receiving the lethal injection. In front of the disapproving looks of the parents of the victims, who sit near her. This is a virtuoso role for the marvelous Susan Sarandon, who beat out Meryl Streep and even Elisabeth Shue for her Leaving Las Vegas performance at the 68th Academy Awards in 1996.
Flashbacks to the actual murders that Poncelet committed are not really a strong point to the film, in my opinion, but they're passable. Look out for a younger Peter Sarsgaard as the male victim, Walter Delacroix, and I'm sure you'll spot a younger Jack Black as Matthew Poncelet's brother, who has a decent scene visiting him in prison. Gosh, and I didn't even know who Jack Black was when I first saw this movie.
And I must say -- Sean Penn -- I don't care if he's a killer -- dude was hot in this movie. It's sad to watch him die in the end. Do I think he deserved it? Absolutely. Do I think it looks like there's something sick and perverse to the family members of the victims getting pleasure out of watching him die? Absolutely. But he killed their kids and tortured them. An eye for an eye, I say. So long, Matthew Poncelet (who isn't a real person, by the way).
The film even makes room for humor, such as when Sister Helen Prejean is informed about who Matthew Poncelet will be buried next to. She's asked a church to allow Matthew to be buried at their cemetery, and they're allowing it, but he'll have to be buried next to the last person who died with the church -- and that's Sister Celestine -- a celibate nun who was very proud to have never slept with a man in her life. "Now she'll be sleeping next to one for all of eternity," notes Sister Helen Prejean. She and a friend burst into laughter.
(directed by Tim Robbins, 1995)
Sean Penn plays a murderer who gets lethal injection in Dead Man Walking. That's probably a spoiler, since in the film, he tries to escape getting the death penalty, but you know it's coming. He uses the help of Sister Helen Prejean, a nun, played by Susan Sarandon, to try to get him to escape the death penalty. She also serves as his spiritual advisor. Sister Helen Prejean is a real person who writes books about her experiences with being with inmates on death row. She's with them as they are executed. She is apparently very much against the death penalty.
This is a terrific movie. I first saw it back in 1995 when it was in movie theaters and I just now saw it again for a second time, all these years later. It was $5 at Wal-Mart on Blu-ray and I was strangely compelled to watch it again.
Single, virginal, middle aged Sister Helen Prejean is not your ordinary nun -- she doesn't dress up in a nun's habit and all that. Just simple clothes with a cross necklace. One day she gets a letter from Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) begging for help. She drives to the prison he's at and gets to know him. He says he's innocent of the crime he is accused of committing -- murdering two teenagers who were making out in a car one night in the woods and got surprised by Poncelet and a friend, who took them out, raped the woman and killed them both. But is he really innocent?
The film follows Sister Helen Prejean as she has talks with Poncelet, as well as talks with the parents of the victims who were murdered. Her talks with the parents are actually far more interesting and emotional than her talks with Poncelet. Frankly, although the talks with Poncelet are good, I am reminded a little of The Silence of the Lambs with Clarice and Hannibal, but with a killer who is of lower intelligence. The early 1990s seem to have been all about movies featuring sweet, innocent women getting caught up in discussions with criminals. It even seems like there's almost a love subtext going on between Sister Helen Prejean and Poncelet, but maybe it is just spiritual love. That's all I guess it could be. But look at how she reaches out to him as she watches him die while strapped to a table, receiving the lethal injection. In front of the disapproving looks of the parents of the victims, who sit near her. This is a virtuoso role for the marvelous Susan Sarandon, who beat out Meryl Streep and even Elisabeth Shue for her Leaving Las Vegas performance at the 68th Academy Awards in 1996.
Flashbacks to the actual murders that Poncelet committed are not really a strong point to the film, in my opinion, but they're passable. Look out for a younger Peter Sarsgaard as the male victim, Walter Delacroix, and I'm sure you'll spot a younger Jack Black as Matthew Poncelet's brother, who has a decent scene visiting him in prison. Gosh, and I didn't even know who Jack Black was when I first saw this movie.
And I must say -- Sean Penn -- I don't care if he's a killer -- dude was hot in this movie. It's sad to watch him die in the end. Do I think he deserved it? Absolutely. Do I think it looks like there's something sick and perverse to the family members of the victims getting pleasure out of watching him die? Absolutely. But he killed their kids and tortured them. An eye for an eye, I say. So long, Matthew Poncelet (who isn't a real person, by the way).
The film even makes room for humor, such as when Sister Helen Prejean is informed about who Matthew Poncelet will be buried next to. She's asked a church to allow Matthew to be buried at their cemetery, and they're allowing it, but he'll have to be buried next to the last person who died with the church -- and that's Sister Celestine -- a celibate nun who was very proud to have never slept with a man in her life. "Now she'll be sleeping next to one for all of eternity," notes Sister Helen Prejean. She and a friend burst into laughter.