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FitnessProsBooks.com - Dead Man Walking
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $3.16
Your Save: $ 11.82 ( 79% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry, R. Lee Ermey
Directed By: Tim Robbins
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792842682
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0792842685
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2000-01-01
Running Time: 122
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1996-01-12
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A study on the death penalty
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Honest, raw and brutal; an emotionally devastating film that will never leave you...
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Injection
Comment: He is in jail for murder, the person willing to help his family is Sister. She passed for not eating well.wonderful movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Valuable Teaching Tool
Comment: As a teacher of high school seniors and juniors I use this film as part of out Capital Punishment unit. The reason? This film explores all perspectives.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Fair Exploration Of The Death Penalty
Comment: Let me start about by saying that I can see why Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn won awards for best actress in a leading role and best actor in a leading roll.
Dead Man Walking a film by Tim Robbins is based on actual events. Susan Sarandon portrays Sister Helen Prejean a nun who is in prison ministry and becomes pen-pals with a condemned inmate Matthew Poncelet. Sister Helen went to the prison just to talk with him and get him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior before he was scheduled to be executed.
Sean Penn portrays Matthew Poncelet a man who was convicted of killing two teenagers and sentenced to die. I would also like to add that Sean's portrayal of Matthew Poncelet (this is not the real life name of the actual person that this movie was based on.) was very moving so much so that it actually made me cry.
What I loved about this movie was that it raised a lot of questions on the issue of capital punishment. The Bible says "Thou Shall Not Kill" but, The Bible also says "An Eye for an Eye" As you watch this film you will see how the victims family and rightfully so want Matthew Poncelet to die. They feel that this is the right thing to do. However, Sister Helen brings up some startling points like just because someone committed a horrible crime does that mean that he or she does not deserve to hear about God's love and His forgiveness and to be treated like a human being during their last days? This film after you watch it will make you ask these questions. (At least it did for me)
I'm so glad I bought this film because it does truly make you wonder what is truly the right and wrong way to handle situations like in the case of Matthew Poncelet.
The only thing I was really disappointed with was the ending because the ending in the movie differs from the actual events that had taken place which I don't understand but, other than that I have no complaints and I really do think that anyone who is torn on the issue of capital punishment or lean to one side over the other should see this film because it does not only show the victim's families point of view but, you also get to see things through the eyes of someone who is convicted of a crime. So this is why I love this film because it doesn't just focus on one point of view but, both points of view.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Inspired by the true story of a nun's relationship with a condemned man, this provocative examination of crime, punishment and redemption earned Susan Sarandon the 1995 OscarÂ(r) for Best Actress and Sean Penn an OscarÂ(r) nomination for Best Actor. Dead Man Walking is a "fast-moving and absorbing" film filled with "genuine suspense" (Variety) that will leave you awe-struck from beginning to end. Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon), a compassionate New Orleansnun, is the spiritual advisor to Matthew Poncelet (Penn), a vicious, angry and complex murderer awaiting execution. Her dedication is to help others, like Matthew, find salvation. But as she attemptsto navigate Matthew's dark soul, she encounters a depth of evil that makes her question how far redemption can really go. Can she stave off the fateful day of execution long enough to save Matthew, or will she discover a truth that will rock the very foundation by which she lives her life?
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