It's super easy to tell the Robbins/Sarandon mindset on the issue of capital punishment by watching this movie. While it is well made and engaging, they chose to tell the story in a way which leaves little doubt about their feelings on the issue. That's not a bad thing, but it took some of the impact out of it for me, by overtly dramaticizing certain scenes, particularly the drawn out climax. It just took it to a politicized ending for me , rather than a singularly compelling one. That aside, Sarandon and Penn both performed well, although the characters situations lend themselves to heavy drama, presumeably any good actors forte.

Let us rejoin the community of civilized nations and stop the death penalty and the torture of prisoners.

Recently the International Court in La Hague requested the state of Texas not execute some Mexican nationals in its death row, in order that the case may be reviewed and their access to the Mexican Consulate granted as assured in international treaties.

Texas killed them. The President of the United States George W. Bush claimed he had no legal right to intervene.

When George W. Bush was governor of Texas he approved more executions than any other in history.

Let us stop the killing.
Let us become pro-life.
Read this book.

Sister Prejean is a good and holy nun from Louisiana who was requested to be a pen pal with a prisoner. She began to see him as a human soul, and this emerges in her eloquent writing. We must not kill one another. Read this book. Vote pro-life.

Thou shalt not kill. To kill for a Christian is always wrong, as Christ forbids us directly and clearly. The UNited States COnference of Catholic Bishops clearly and repeatedly forbid it in their official documents. Numerous other books document the injustices of the United States death penalty, its racism, its classism, its biases. This book tells us of one human soul, and the sister who perceived him.

Read this book. Do further research. Fight the death penalty. Be pro-life.

I was moved by the way the movie developed the character of the intended exacution victim and the character of the Nun who visited him and helped him to deal with the realities of his pending death.

I believe that this movie is one of the most honest, graphic and thorough commentaries on the death penalty that I have ever seen or read about. I am an evangelical and disagree with much of the Roman Catholic theology but the love and compassion of God was seen in the character of Sister Prejean. I believe that the movie was well balanced in presenting both sides of the death penalty argument.

This movie wrecked me.

Seriously, it tore out my heart and stomped on it. `Dead Man Walking' is one of those movies that ravages an individual because it leaves bias at the door and forces you to witness two sides of a devastating story. I feel about this film as I do about `4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' for both films take a situation that one would have a firm opinion about and causes you to seriously doubt yourself. With `4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' it was abortion, and while I am wholeheartedly against the act it forced me to understand why some would be for it, and it brought me a to a dark and lonely place I never want to revisit. `Dead Man Walking' is very similar but maybe even with a more savage result. This film takes on the subject of the death penalty and asks us to contemplate whether or not it is humane. Instead of forcing us a preordained answer, `Dead Man Walking' allows the audience to see both sides of the situation and decide for themselves what they think is just and fair.

`Dead Man Walking' took everything I believed in and destroyed it.

When `4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' was through I was weak emotionally, but I still stood firm to my beliefs on the subject. When I was through with `Dead Man Walking' I had no idea what I believed anymore because I found myself trying to justify each stance on the matter. I still am trying to grapple with my feelings.

`Dead Man Walking' (a slang term used in reference to a death row inmate in route to the death chamber) focuses on Matthew Poncelet, a convicted murderer trying to get his death sentenced exchanged for a life sentence. He writes to Sister Helen Prejean for her help in the process, and when his appeal is denied he asks her to be his spiritual adviser during the week leading up to his execution. She agrees, despite the pressure she has from the community and the victims families to separate herself from this man. The film takes us into the relationship between these two people and slowly and subtly lets us inside their minds. Matthew swears he was nothing more than a witness to the horrific events that placed him on death row yet Sister Prejean is trying to help him take responsibility for his actions so as to gain Christ's forgiveness.

What could have proved itself nothing more than a sappy preachy film about inhumane/humane (depending on your stance) acts of justice becomes so much more thanks to the brilliant performances by the entire cast, the two leads in particular. Susan Sarandon is one of our greatest working actresses, and she always succeeds in impressing me, but this is probably her finest performance (and Oscar agreed). Not only that, but this may very well be one of the finest performances by any actress, ever. As Sister Helen Prejean she truly grabs hold of this woman's soul, her inner demons and her beauty within. She is so raw, so human and real that one can't help but fall into her plight and stand beside her strength. Her final scenes with Penn devastate me and caused me to burst into tears. Those scenes were of course only strengthened by the power that is Sean Penn. As Matthew Poncelet, Penn creates a monster that is so real and so human that we can't help by sympathize with him. It was about half way through the film that it hit me, what Penn was successfully doing. He was creating a man that I could understand. We think about the act and the crime and the horror behind it all and we are quick to hate and cry out for justice, but quite like `A Clockwork Orange', `Dead Man Walking' asks the question if we have the right, as humans, to decide just what that justice should entail.

The final moments of `Dead Man Walking' hit me like a freight train. Coupling the heartbreaking final moments of Poncelet's life with flashbacks of his horrendous crime leaves the viewer in distress and torn between two wide ranges of thinking. This was probably the smartest direction Tim Robbins could have gone for it accomplishes what he set out to do, create a film without bias that addresses both side of the coin. Sure, the harrowing performances by R. Lee Ermey, Celia Weston and Robert Prosky as the parents of Poncelet's victims help give us a perspective into their feelings on the matter, but it is the ending that really twists the knife. By feeding us the initial crime and the inevitable justice at the same time we are flooded with emotions as we cringe at the sight of Poncelet taking innocent lives in such a brutal fashion and then shiver in misery as we watch his life taken from him in what is considered a `humane' fashion. The ending result is one of pain and emotional exhaustion.

I cannot say that I would not want this same form of justice done if anyone hurt my daughter. Most likely I would be campaigning for a more drastic and harsh form of torment to be done that individual. I think that is why this film haunts me so much, because I am a father. As I watch this movie and begin to sympathize with this man I feel guilty because I would never want someone to sympathize with a man that hurt my own daughter. Having said that I wholeheartedly agree with Penn's final devastating words, that killing is wrong no matter who is doing it. This rift in my own feelings may very well be the reason I consider this to be one of the finest films ever made, for it addresses those same contradictions with intelligence and honesty.