Jun 24, 2006 11:16 PM
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This is a movie that really matters. it is serious, painful to sit through, but it is necessary. I wished then I had not gone to see it, and I still feel so when I remember a couple of scenes.
it is about a prisoner on death-row, accused of murder and rape, and a young nun's attempt to understand his actions, and redeem his soul. although the noose is hanging over his head, there is no repentance, only fear and anxiety of the approaching execution.
when a man is being taken to his death, the guards escorting the prisoner call out "Dead man walking!", that other prisoners may be warned of his fate, and turn their minds towards sober thoughts. -that's the source of the title.
the message of the film is a call against capital punishment even for the most monstrous crimes. and to this aim, the movie shows us the entire aftermath of a gruesome rape and merciless killing of a young girl and her boyfriend, by the accused and his friends.
there is no attempt to soft-focus the vicious nature of the crime. the story is uncovered in flashback narrative by the prisoner, to the nun, on her daily visits.
the nun's innocence and belief in the goodness of man is truly tested by this acquaintance, but her faith tells her that no soul is beyond redemption, in repentance.
he eventually confesses his crime, however, he shows no repentance and she struggles on, forced to persevere in her attempts as much to keep her own faith intact as to help ease his last days on earth and bring him closer to God.
while the capital punishment is not averted by last minute plot twists, in the process of recording the prisoner's days on death-row, and his life that led upto it, the movie slowly does bring about a change in our perceptions of what it means to take away a human life, although the answer is not what you imagine.
Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, two far above average actors as the convict and the nun, turn in absolutely stunning performances, but so do other actors. And this is a script with roles so unusual, there is no getting away with routinely spouting the dialogues.
sitar music underlines the outer melancholy and inner turmoil of the movie. visually, too, the film is shocking. not just a bloody gash on your skin, but a deep blade into your core.
-------Thats about the film, the following is just some thoughts ..u may choose to skip it.---------
for some reason, rape always haunts me more than other crimes, more than it does for other women, and with no identifiable personal reason. I keep searching for the reasons why I identify with the victims so completely, and their horror becomes mine, for a few days after I see something on the subject, I am full of a violent reaction.
why is rape so awful? as someone, a man, said -its just sex, without consent, isnt it ?
i wont even go into the social stigma part - I agree with those who think its ridiculous that the victim is the shamed. besides, in my liberal corner of the world, sex and virginity are not a big deal, so societal implications do not worry me.
what rape is .........rape is an abuse of power. of physical power, in this case. ---------it is sadism- a case of taking pleasure in something that gives the other pain.------ It is a violation of civil rights - of the victim's freedom of choice in sex. -------it is robbery- of human identity as a rational being, as more than just a body. ------and it is negation of human worth - that you can be a PhD, a Nobel Prize winner, the President of India, or Ma Theresa, and yet be considered only good enough for the brief carnal satisfaction of someone worthless.
is even death sufficient repair for this crimel ? how can anyone oppose the death penalty for this ? this is where the film begins its work....
one must appreciate what the film did not do - to try and justify (or even explain) the man's actions in the light of inadequate love or abusive circumstances of his own life.
what the film does do effectively, is to divert focus on the crime and the anger long enough, to really see the accused in this film for what he is - a flawed creature, human in its fraility in the face of death, whose life in any case means so little to the world, that taking it away from him would be no gain to anybody.
and that's the weakness of the capital penalty. unexpected answer, isnt it......
that's the focus I carry in mind, when I think about these things.
