With this film he leaps far beyond his earlier work and has made that rare thing, a film that is an exercise of philosophy. At the 68th Academy Awards, Dead Man Walking was nominated in four different categories: Susan Sarandon won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role, Sean Penn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Tim Robbins was nominated for Best Director and its main track "Dead Man Walkin'" by Bruce Springsteen was nominated for Best Original Song. It demonstrates how a movie can confront a grave and controversial issue in our society and see it fairly, from all sides, not take any shortcuts, and move the audience to a great emotional experience without unfair manipulation. It demonstrates how a movie can confront a grave and controversial issue in our society and see it fairly, from all sides, not take any shortcuts, and move the audience to a great emotional experience without unfair manipulation. Truly believes it, with every atom of her being. Discuss the different perception of the spiritual life held by Sister Helen and her co-workers and the Catholic prison chaplain. He affirms his innocence and insists Vitello killed the two teenagers. Who has taught you the most about the spiritual dimensions of being present with another person? For A Depiction Of A Rape and Murder, CIFF 2020: Black Perspectives Program Highlights Diverse Voices, CIFF 2020: The Roger Ebert Award Returns to Champion New Voices, Immerse Yourself in Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project #3. Just before he is taken from his cell, Poncelet tearfully admits to Sister Helen that he had killed the boy and raped the girl. Tim Robbins, Sarandon's longtime companion, has directed once before ("Bob Roberts," an intelligent political drama). Despite having to live with his crimes and his bitter, cold heart, he meets Sister Helen. With Wings Hauser, Brion James, Pamela Ludwig, Leland Crooke. Tim Robbins has taken material from her book Dead Man Walking and reshaped it into one of the most inspiring and positive portraits of Christian ministry ever put on film. The inmate, named Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), has been convicted, along with another man, of participating in the rape and murder of two young people on a lovers' lane. This unforgettable film exposes the cruelty of death by lethal injection and offers instead an alternate path based on love. "[2], Hal Hinson of The Washington Post commented: "What this intelligent, balanced, devastating movie puts before us is nothing less than a contest between good and evil. That is exactly what it does. This guide is posted as a service to visitors to www.SpiritualityandPractice.com. Dead Man Walking is a film about a man living and walking with death staring him right in the face. We both live with the poor." This guide is one in a series of more than 200 Values & Visions Guides written by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Why must it be prayed and struggled for? It blocks and destroys all other feelings, especially love. Christianity teaches that all sin can be forgiven, and that no sinner is too low for God's love. Sister Helen's application for a pardon is declined. The last half-hour of this movie is overwhelmingly powerful - not the least in Matthew's strained 11th-hour visit with his family, where we see them all trapped in the threadbare cliches of a language learned from television shows and saloon jukeboxes. He smokes a cigarette as if sneaking puffs in a grade-school washroom. He is a prisoner on death row in Louisiana, and she visits him as his spiritual adviser after corresponding with him. With a budget of $11 million, the film grossed $39,387,284 domestically and $43,701,011 internationally, for a total of $83,088,295 worldwide.[8]. "The spiritual life," according to Joan Chittister, "is not achieved by denying one part of life for the sake of another. The experience changed the direction of her ministry and propelled her into activism against the death penalty. For years, critics have asked for more films that deal with the spiritual side of life. He wants her to help with his appeal. Sister Helen thinks about that, and says, "You and I have something in common. As he is prepared for execution, he appeals to the boy's father for forgiveness and tells the girl's parents that he hopes his death brings them peace. What is remarkable is that the film is also all the other things a movie should be: absorbing, surprising, technically superb and worth talking about for a long time afterward. Instead they desire "absolute justice," his life for the lives of their children. He parrots a racist statement from his prison buddies in the Aryan Nation, which does his case no good, and later, when he bitterly resents his stupidity in saying those things, we realize he didn't even think about them; nature abhors a vacuum, and racism abhors an empty mind and pours in to fill it. I doubt if "Dead Man Walking" was what they were thinking of, but this is exactly how such a movie looks, and feels. The film was well received by critics. He tells her, "They got me on a greased rail to the Death House here." For a review of the film and a plot synopsis, click here. At the 46th Berlin International Film Festival, Penn won the Silver Bear for Best Actor. ", After Matthew Poncelet takes responsibility for murder and rape, Sister Helen says to him: "You have dignity now, nobody can ever take that from you. After Leila, his boss's daughter, is kidnapped by psychopathic plague victim Decker, chauffeur Chazz teams up with plague-infected mercenary Luger to penetrate the toxic & off-limits Plague Zone and bring her back alive. At this point in any conventional story, we would expect developments along familiar lines. It is corrosive to self. And yet she does not press Matthew for a "religious" solution to his situation. As the day of his execution comes closer, Poncelet asks Sister Helen Prejean, with whom he has corresponded, to help him with a final appeal. The families do not understand Sister Helen's efforts to help Poncelet and claim that she is "taking his side." Matthew, we come to realize, is the product of an impoverished cultural background. "[3] Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times described the acting: "For this kind of straight-ahead movie to work, the acting must be strong without even a breath of theatricality, and in Penn and Sarandon, Dead Man Walking has performers capable of making that happen. Susan Saradon won an Academy Award for her luminous portrait of Sister Helen Prejean. Why does Sister Helen go to the families of the victims? Each day it must be prayed for and struggled for and won.". Matthew Poncelet shot a young man in the head and brutally raped the man’s girlfriend, allowing his accomplice to murder her soon after. Why do you think this form of legally mandated murder so popular with the American public? You are a son of God. If you want to see the heroic, look at those who can love in return for hatred. Dead Man Walking Meaning The United States has one of the few overspent, and majority of citizens who condone and continue capital punishment. If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive. The real-life Sister Helen Prejean can be seen briefly in the candlelight vigil scene outside the prison protesting the death penalty with the rest of the cast. This is the kind of movie that spoils us for other films, because it reveals so starkly how most movies fall into conventional routine, and lull us with the reassurance that they will not look too hard, or probe too deeply, or make us think beyond the boundaries of what is comfortable. The site's consensus states: "A powerful, thought-provoking film that covers different angles of its topic without resorting to preaching, Dead Man Walking will cause the viewer to reflect regardless of their political viewpoint. The movie comes down to a drama of an entirely unexpected kind: a spiritual drama, involving Matthew's soul. Suggestions Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95% positive rating based on reviews from 61 critics, with an average rating of 8.24/10. Poncelet is executed by lethal injection and given a proper burial. Sister Helen, as played here by Sarandon and written and directed by Tim Robbins (from the memoir by the real Helen Prejean), is one of the few truly spiritual characters I have seen in the movies. Who has been the face of love for you this year? She decides to visit him. The murdered boy's father attends the funeral ceremony; although he is still filled with hate, he soon begins to pray with Sister Helen. None of these things happen. Here it is not like that. Which of these -- and other attributes -- of Jesus are most meaningful to you? Sister Helen believes that. That is exactly what it does. Discuss the idea that we get closer to God in this life by loving each other. After seeing "Dead Man Walking," I paused outside the screening to jot a final line on my notes: "This film ennobles filmmaking." It also shows that hate is the worst prison of all. Convincing an experienced attorney to take on Poncelet's case pro bono, Sister Helen tries to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Sister Helen meets the parents of the dead girl, and the father of the dead boy. The prison chaplain (Scott Wilson) doesn't think much of her visit, and briefs her on the ways that prisoners can manipulate outsiders. Spin out what it means to you to be a son or daughter of God. What is your definition of the spiritual life? Make your voice heard on Election Day. What has this film taught you about forgiveness. Talk about the death penalty as a vehicle of hate, bitterness, and cynicism. "[1] Metacritic gives it a rating of 80/100 based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews. Dead Man Walking debuted on December 29, 1995, in the United States. She says that she will come to see him again and that she will help him file a last-minute appeal against his approaching execution. What does Sister Jean imply when she says this to him? Photos courtesy of Grammercy Pictures. Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the 1993 non-fiction book of the same name. Matthew Poncelet has been in prison for six years, awaiting execution after being convicted and sentenced to death for killing a teenage couple. A short summary of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of Dead Man Walking. Rated R He is arrogant, sexist, and racist and does not even pretend to feel remorse. In the book Dead Man Walking, by Sister Helen Prepare, the topic of capital punishment is discussed through an eye-witness account of her experience befriending a death row inmate. Penn proves again that he is the most powerful actor of his generation, and, as for Sarandon, in film after film she finds not the right technique for a character so much as the right humanity. Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the … Search all of SparkNotes Search. He obviously thinks of her as a bleeding heart. The movie begins with a Louisiana nun, Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon), who works in an inner-city neighborhood. Dead Man Walking (1995) presents a rounded and riveting look at the life and work of this nun who demonstrates the spiritual practices of listening, forgiveness, and compassion with a death row prisoner and with the parents of his victims. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. The performances in this film are beyond comparison, which is to say that Sarandon and Penn find their characters and make them into exactly what they are, without reference to other movies or conventions. ", The Quaker writer Douglas V. Steere has written, "Holy listening to 'listen' another's soul into life, into a condition of disclosure and discovery, may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another. Poncelet asks Sister Helen to be his spiritual adviser through his execution, and she agrees. And there is more. What she hopes for is that he can go to his death in reconciliation with himself and his crime.
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