DEAD MAN WALKING
A film review by John Schuurman
Copyright 1996 John Schuurman
Directed by: Tim Robbins Reviewed by John Schuurman
Sometimes, at the end of a film, watching the credits, hoping for one of those surprises with which they sometimes reward you for staying to the end, you have the sense that you'd like to stay even longer. Fundamental things have roiled up in the last coupleof hours and you know that setting your face towards the exit will somehow cause them to subside. (It has happened before.) So you linger.
That happened to me when I saw *Schindler's List* and when I saw*The Black Robe* to name but a couple recent examples. Today, again, as I sat and watched the credits of *Dead Man Walking* I tried to retain somehow a bit of the essence of what this experience was.
For me, it is more than having an encounter with a great piece of cinematic art. High quality, of course, has to be there, but there are many superb examples of the film maker's art available. Sometimes, there is something more -- another dimension. Call it"close encounters," call it "chemistry." I call it "beyond art" or something very like it: "faith tested and proven."
*Dead Man Walking* is ("inspired by" rather than based on) a book by the same title written by Sister Helen Prejean, a progressive nun in Louisiana. The movie concerns Sister Helen and her attempts to stop the execution of Matthew Poncelet, a particularly vicious punk who along with an accomplice, killed and raped a teenage girl along with her boyfriend. I have seen some ads for the movie with an 'R' rating and some with a 'PG-13.' There is no question that it ought to get the former.
Most critics have only laudatory things to say about *Dead ManWalking*. I join them. Common to the reviews is the marvel that the well-known 'Hollywood Liberal' Tim Robbins was willing to simply be honest in telling this anti-capital punishment story.It *is* no small accomplishment, (one shudders to think what this movie would look like if Kevin Costner had made it). The movie is full of integrity "that way." There is no romanticizing of the killer or dismissing the crime, (in frequent flashbacks the vicious act is shown without blinking). The anguished parents of the killer's victims are not monstrous or even unreasonable when they cry out for vengeance. Even the sanctimonious prison chaplain is human.
And, making this film really unique is it's departure from the conventions of current film making in that people of faith and their beliefs are respected throughout. In fact there are no easy stereotypes -- humans and our ambiguous situations all around.Therein lies the film's power.
But what is especially worthy of comment is the path of redemption the movie shows us. When Sister Helen (Susan Sarandon)agrees to serve as the condemned's (Sean Penn) spiritual counselor during his last days, the chaplain of the prison tries to dissuade her from a task for which he judges her too soft. Hereminds her that sympathy and her compassionate nature have no place among the condemned. What is needed to usher him into paradise is having the sacrament administered in his last hour. Sister Helen sees redemption made of more sturdy stuff: confession and forgiveness. As the clock moves relentlessly towards the midnight hour, the condemned, prompted by her stubborn love, finally owns up to what he has done. His shell of victim-hood cracks and we believe her when she calls him a childof God.
Most powerful scene: Sister Helen's anguished prayer in the bathroom just before he dies. Desperate for strength so that she can be strong for him, she storms heaven and receives strength.
The film clearly has its anti-capital punishment bias, "Kill'n 's wrong, no matter who's do'n it." We do shudder at the cool procedure with which the state processes the condemned.
But then this: We see that it is the urgency of the looming hour of death that both brings the killer's confession to the surface *and* has Sister Helen so constantly at his side in the firstplace. It is fair to wonder out loud: Is it the state and it'skilling of the killer that is the needed catalytic agent to restore Biblical peace? Integral to the Biblical view of shalom or peace is balance. When injustice is perpetrated, a correctivemust be applied, (most often in kind).
This is a great and profound film. I'll not forget it and do intend to see it more.
For more reviews by John Schuurman http://www.mcs.com/%7Esjvogel/wcrc/movies.html
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