DEAD MAN WALKING
A film review by Vince Deehan
Copyright 1996 Vince Deehan
Director: Tim Robbins. Screenplay: Tim Robbins based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean Cast: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry, R.Lee Ermey, Celia Weston and Roberta Maxwell. Release Date: March 29th 1996 (UK)
I have been waiting for DEAD MAN WALKING to be released here in the UK for many months now, and with all the high praise the film has received in the US I was very pleased to finally get a chance to see this fine film this week. Whilst I enjoyed the film a great deal, I did feel slightly disappointed, but this was probably inevitable considering the huge build up the film has received.
The film begins with a letter sent by a Death Row inmate, Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) to Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) asking for her help. Matthew is facing the death penalty for his part in a rape and double murder of two teenagers, Hope Percy and Walter Delacroix (played by Missy Yager and Peter Sarsgaard, who we see in flashbacks). Matthew committed the crime with another fellow who has fortuitously been spared the death penalty. It is suggested in the film that at least one of them had to be seen to be given the death penalty and there is the suggestion that the other guy had a better lawyer
Matthew's family are poor and live very far away from the prison so are unable to visit Matthew very often, so Matthew is clearly pleased when Sister Helen comes to see him. Sister Helen has never counselled a death row inmate before and her awkwardness at their first meeting is brilliantly conveyed by Susan Sarandon. Matthew comes across as a bit of a tough nut who although not nearly as articulate as the more than likely better educated Sister Helen is still more than able to get his views across to her. At times though Matthew appears a bit slow, especially when in the run up to his imminent execution he gives a series interviews to the media where he lets forth his racist views and desires to bomb buildings. As Sister Helen tells him, he makes the mistake of making it very easy for people to hate him. Only later in the film does he finally realise the error of revealing to the media his leanings towards the views of Adolf Hitler.
During the film many people question Sister Helen's motives for helping Matthew. A particularly poignant moment occurs when the young black children she works with become quietly hostile to her after Matthew's racist views appear in print alongside her own name. I found myself constantly questioning her motives too, but quickly remembered that it was Matthew who asked her directly for help and she saw it as her duty to do her best for him, regardless of how appalling his crimes were. All along she tries to get Matthew to face up to his crime, which he is very reluctant to do. He constantly claims that whilst he was there, he never killed anyone. Sister Helen wants Matthew to admit his true part in the crime so that he can be honest with God and then face his death with dignity.
We also meet the parents of the murdered teenagers whose pain and torment is a lasting reminder of the horrific killing that Matthew was involved with. Sister Helen meets them for the first time at a hearing for Matthew where he tries and fails to get a reprieve from his death penalty. The father of the murdered boy, Mr Delacroix (Raymond J. Barry) confronts Sister Helen afterwards and tells her he is a Catholic and asks her why she is befriending and helping Matthew and not him and the other parents. Sister Helen is terribly flustered at this and admits that she hadn't thought they wanted her help. The anger felt by Mr Delacroix when she gives him her number and tells him to call her (and not her call him, as he would have hoped and expected) is very palpable and well conveyed by Raymond J. Barry.
When Sister Helen goes to visit the parents of the murdered girl, Clyde and Mary Beth Percy, they seem to accept her and welcome her presence. They talk lovingly of their daughter and really open their hearts to Sister Helen. But in one of the most powerful moments of the film they thank Sister Helen for coming round to their side. This moment when Sister Helen realises that they have assumed that she is no longer helping Matthew and has instead decided to help the relatives is very moving and takes Sister Helen by surprise and she is visibly shaken by what is happening. For me as a viewer I was left pretty shaken too, especially when Clyde (R. Lee Ermey) and Mary Beth Percy (Celia Weston) spell it out all too clearly when they tell her that she can't (in their opinion) be Matthew's friend and theirs too.
Early in the film, the lawyer that is helping Matthew, Hilton Barber (Robert Prosky), says that to get him off the death penalty they have to convince the authorities that they are dealing with a human being and not a monster. A monster being infinitely easier to execute than a three-dimensional human being. This is very true of the film as a whole, which through Tim Robbins' excellent script and brilliant acting by Sean Penn never leaves you in any doubt that whilst Matthew committed a terrible crime, he is still someone's brother and someone's son. This is powerfully conveyed in the scene where Matthew spends some time with his mother and three brothers in the hours before his execution. We see Matthew colluding with his brothers in teasing their youngest brother into admitting that he broke off an all night camping expedition in their back garden because he was scared by the sound of an animal he heard. The love between the whole family just shines off the screen.
The acting in this film is uniformly excellent, with Sarandon and Penn in particular giving the kind of exquisite performances that must make all other actors so proud to be in the same profession. Whilst I thought Nicolas Cage was excellent in LEAVING LAS VEGAS, I feel Sean Penn gave the better performance and it would have been nice to see Sarandon and Penn win both Best Actress and Best Actor at last weeks Oscars.
Special mention should also go to Roberta Maxwell who gave a fantastic performance as Matthew's mother and had such great dignity in the face of such a terrible trauma as losing your son to the death penalty. Raymond J. Barry was also terrific as the father of the murdered boy, especially in the scene where he described the sheer joy of his marriage to his wife who was now divorcing him due to the conflicts which arose from the different ways they both grieved for their beloved son.
DEAD MAN WALKING is a film which tackles the difficult topic of the death penalty and bravely decides to show both sides of the argument, and never downplays the suffering of the people left behind, both the parents of the murdered teenagers and the family of the executed murderer.
Review written by Vince Deehan on Sun 31 March 1996 (vince@deehan.demon.co.uk)
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