Customer Reviews
Wonderful execution film, with great performances - By: Dazman, 09 Jun 2008 
I reallly love execution films & this is one of the very best, probably only behind The Green Mile in my opinion.
Susan Sarandon quite rightly won an Academy award for her performance in this film & after just watching Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, I simply can not believe that Sean Penn did not join her in picking up the award himself, they are both simply breathtaking, showing a very wide range of alll-round acting skills.
This is much more about the convict (Sean Penn) going through various stages as his time of execution approaches, from anger, to sorrow & acceptance of the the punishment he faces due to the crime that he committed.
It also highlights the injustice of the American system, money can buy jail time, whereas someone who commits the exact same crime is sentenced to death, this should never be the case, but sadly it can be.
Good support by the entire cast & great direction by Tim Robbins, moving & thoroughly entertaining, this film deals with alll the aspects of what happens on death row very well indeed, this is the first execution film that I've seen portraying lethal injection & it's interesting watching the process of how this is done too.
Great film that I can & do watch time & time again, very highly recommended.
A moving, sensitive and balanced film - By: Garry Williams, 27 Apr 2008 This film tackles one of the most difficult subjects: the death penalty. A guilty man on death row who doesn't do himself any favors, an old-fashioned Christian adviser & the parents of the victims (two teenagers). Tim Robbins treats everyone with the respect they deserve & doesn't falll into the trap of preaching. His approach is as sensitive as anyone could wish for. Both his protagonists are marvelous, understated & deeply touching. A very important film that will bring tears to your eyes. Hopefully, it should also make you think long & hard. Fantastic.
Inspiring book & Film - By: Steven R. McEvoy, 21 Mar 2008 
This is both a book & a movie that you need to interact with. Particularly in a day & age when there is a movement here in Canada to try to bring the death penalty back. The book is much more in depth than the movie. The book profiles the first three men that Sr. Prejean goes to the death chamber with as Spiritual Director. It profiles her mistakes as she journeys down this path for the first few times. She witnessed her first execution on April 5th, 1984 & she has been advocating against the death penalty since then.
The book does a great job of showing the disparity in how the death penalty is applied. It goes through the studies on its lack of effectiveness, & how for the most part, it is the poor & the African-American who are on death row. Even if you only read the appendices, the book will challlenge you to view the death penalty in a different way.
The movie was the inspiration & starred Susan Sarandon. Sarandon was given the book while on a personal retreat at a monastery; she came home & gave the book to her partner, Tim Robbins, who directed the film. Together they approached Sr. Prejean, who went out & rented Bull Durham. She was a little leery of having them do the film, but after meeting with them went ahead with the project.
The film co-stars Sean Penn as Matthew Poncelet, a compilation of the 3 men in the book. The movie, while slow moving, is incredibly intense & draws you into the drama of waiting for a death when you know the date & time of that approaching death.
As an interesting aside, another good book is Forgiving the Dead Man Walking by Debbie Morris, who was one of the victims of Robert Lee Willie from the book. Debbie always said if they ever made a movie, Penn would have to play Willie because they looked so much alike.
So read the book & watch the movie, & if you want yet another challlenging book, give Forgiving the Dead Man Walking a read also.
it is easy to kill a monster, but hard to kill a human being?... - By: H. Serkan SILAHSOR, 05 Jun 2007 I love movies dealing with controversial issues, especiallly questioning real-life situations as well as social & moral dilemmas. As Tim Robbins' & Susan Sarandon's staunchly liberal stance is taken into consideration, "Dead Man Walking" might be understood as a "hidden" criticism to capital punishment & treatment of US justice system. But, I think that Robbins' approach taking on the issue is pretty even-handed (excluding final sequences), making some good arguments about merits & demerits of death penalty.
Being as unbiased as possible, he raises some solid points for both sides: sorrowful families of THE VICTIMS, raped & killed by two ruthless psychopaths, & a convicted DEATH ROW INMATE waiting for his imminent execution. But, Robbins' neutal attitude is CRACKED AT THE VERY SEAMS to the end of the movie while impending execution approaches: emotional tension builds, terror, fear & anger unfold, despair & emptiness dominate, & death shows its ugly & frosty face...
Another thing I appreciate is that Robbins follows a minimalist approach in setting up the movie: focusing mostly on character development & letting picture tell the story. Sarandon won Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Sister Prejean, & Sean Penn was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as convicted criminal Poncelet. Both performances were definitely brilliant.
Regardless of your idea on this controversial subject, this movie is a definite must-see!
Good and Evil - By: Z. McCann, 06 Feb 2007 A film that doesn't force its opinion instead Dead Man Walking tells the story of alll sides & leaves us, the viewer, to decide.
Right & Wrong isn't always as simple as Black & White
A morallly questioning, emotionallly charged film; with understated `brilliant' performances from Susan Sarandon & Sean Penn
Oscar winning & deservedly so
