Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

In the world out there, there are many different movies. Some that are successful in the box office, but are absolute cr*p (sorry, but this is true), and others that are not successful in the box office, but are close to being masterpieces. Now an example of a box office hit that was not too good is Titanic. As good as the special effects were, the film was weak on its plot and was historically incorrect. On the other side, there is Dead Man Walking, a poignant story about the relationship between a nun and a prisoner.

I first heard about Dead Man Walking in 1995, when Susan Sarandon won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean. I found out that this film was based on Sister Helen's experiences with death row prisoners and that Sister Helen is still alive. Like the character in the movie, Sister Helen is against capital punishment and has tried to prevent prisoners being killed through the legal system. She most recently led a protest against the murder of Timothy McVeigh. She still leads rallies against the death penalty and is trying to put a stop to it.

Anyway, despite knowing all this, I had never watched the movie. But the opportunity presented itself when my Religious Studies teacher (who teaches ethics) decided to show this to us. He said that this movie contained a lot about capital punishment; arguments which both argue for and against the idea of the death penalty.

The movie is based on Sister Helen's experience working with criminals on death row. Sister Helen was a normal nun, teaching and caring for the unfortunate kids of her neighborhood, like all the other nuns were. However, for some strange reason, Sister Helen receives a letter from a death row prisoner named Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn; Poncelet is a fictional character, who basically represents two prisoners, Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, Sister Helen has worked with).

After receiving this letter, the nun pays Poncelet a visit. Poncelet has been sentenced to death after killing a young teenager, Walter Delacroix, and raping his girlfriend, Hope Percy. Poncelet accuses his friend, Carl Vitello (Michael Cullen), of killing the two teenagers and Poncelet claims he never did anything to harm the two teenagers.

This leads to a re-trial, which still finds him guilty of the rape and murder of Delacroix and Mercy, despite the fact Vitello only has to spend 5 years in jail for committing the crime along with Poncelet.

The victims' parents do not trust what Poncelet is saying. Mr. Delacroix (Raymond J. Barry) is initially outraged towards the idea of Sister Helen siding with a murderer. However as the film progresses, Mr. Delacroix is probably the most forgiving of the parents, and he frequently talks about how much he loved his son and how his son's death tore apart his marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Percey (R. Lee Ermey and Celia Weston) are less forgiving and are extremely upset by the fact that Sister Helen is allied with a murderer.

However, Poncelet only has a week until he is set to die. Sister Helen is having an extremely difficult time trying to communicate with Poncelet, whose white supremacist views make it even harder to like him. However, as the story progresses, Sister Helen manages to soften Poncelet up and we eventually see the real side of Poncelet. He is not a "monster", like the people in the film say he is, but just another human being. Will Poncelet be able to prevent his imminent death?

I have to say this movie has many pros. One of its biggest pros is the acting throughout the film. As I said earlier, Sarandon deservedly won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean. Her warmness as a person, her composure and her courage to stand up for this prisoner was portrayed beautifully. Her use of facial expression to show emotion was also performed elegantly. However, it is not only Sarandon who deserves credit. Penn, in my opinion, was just as good or even better than she was. Although he did not win an award for his role, his character develops very well. The hardness of Poncelet shone right through and the realism Penn managed to create in his character was stunning. Other supporting actors such as Raymond J. Barry, R. Lee Ermey and Celia Weston, also portrayed a high degree of realism in their roles as the victims' parents.

Tim Robbins' direction was first class. Kudos must go to Robbins for being able to create a film that had no bias leaning towards the victims' parents or the prisoner. It almost seems if Robbins had created an ethical debate out of this film. Quotes in the film include:

"It's easy to kill a monster, but it's hard to kill a human being".

"Simple justice for the unbearable loss".

"He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword".

Robbins also did a great job re-enacting the actual crime scene at the end of the film. I won't tell you what actually happened, but the imagery used throughout this scene in the film just blew me away. It completely stunned me.

However, this aspect of the film might be offensive to some people. If you do not like to see an entire murder scene being re-enacted, then you might find this movie offensive. Another offensive aspect of the film is the blatant racism used by Poncelet throughout the film. His hatred of Afro-Americans might hurt the feelings of the many Afro-Americans out there. The only problem is that if this was removed, the film would be incomplete and would not be as great as it really was.

The film is, in my opinion, one of the best films I have ever seen. The acting and direction pulled this film along and stunned people like me, who never expected to see a film as great as this one was. This film should only be watched by people above the age of 15, because of the offensive content the film contains. If you are not below the age of 15, you should watch this movie!

Thanks for reading the review.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD