Dead Man Walking: A Review

DEAD MAN WALKING

There are some issues that are very contentious that stir up fierce passions. Abortion is one such issue. Another is the death penalty. Dead Man Walking does something rare: provide balance between the opposing views. It is not a screed against or for execution, but a journey to find the humanity among the victims and victimizers.

Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) works among the Louisiana poor at Hope House. She has been corresponding with Matthew Ponselet (Sean Penn), who is on death row for the killing of teenagers Walter Delacroix (Peter Sargaard) and his girlfriend, Hope Percy (Missy Yager). She agrees to help him with his final appeal.

Sister Helen meets Ponselet in person. She also brings attorney Hilton Barber (Robert Prosky) to attempt to change the sentence to life in prison, which is what the other man convicted of the Delacroix/Percy murders received. Their efforts fail and Ponselet will be executed. 

While Sister Helen is opposed to the death penalty, she also has the chance to meet Walter and Hope's parents. Earl Delacroix (Raymond J. Barry) is more receptive to seeing Sister Helen than his wife, the agony of their only child's death eventually breaking up the marriage. Clyde and Mary Beth Percy (R. Lee Ermey and Celia Weston) are under the mistaken idea that Sister Helen has come around to support the execution. None are pleased to see Sister Helen serve as Ponselet's spiritual adviser as the execution date grows. Through her work, Ponselet finally takes responsibility for his actions. She is able to be with him until the actual execution. Wiser, having seen both sides now, Sister Helen can now help Earl Delacroix find his own way back.

I think many would be leery about the subject matter of Dead Man Walking as it stood. Knowing that Tim Robbins (who wrote and directed the film) and his then-partner Sarandon were the people behind the project might also give some people pause. Robbins and Sarandon were very much politically active at the time, so the thought that Dead Man Walking would be some anti-death penalty lecture might cross a viewer's mind. However, Robbins, adapting Sister Helen Prejean's book, did something extremely wise.

It humanized both sides.  

Had Robbins and Sarandon merely wanted to make a purely anti-death penalty film, it would have fallen into the trap of painting Ponselet as almost a victim. He could have been portrayed as innocent. The focus could have shifted to his own suffering mother (Roberta Maxwell) and his brothers. However, Dead Man Walking took the time to have Sister Helen meet and talk to Earl Delacroix and the Percys. She saw them not as monsters baying for the blood of Matthew Ponselet.

She saw them as deeply grieving parents, ones who wanted justice for their children and felt that Ponselet's death would be that justice. The scenes with Earl and the Percys, as they talk about Walter and Hope, are difficult to watch. Robbins includes flashbacks to their killings as the parents talk to Sister Helen, which I imagine is what she is seeing in her mind. 

At one point, Clyde Percy firmly berates Sister Helen for siding with that "monster". Dead Man Walking makes the case that Matthew Ponselet is a terrible man, but not a "monster". He is a racist and a murderer who comes to repentance and acceptance only at the bitter end. However, he is also a human, with a family that loves him and a daughter that he will never see. 

At the same time, Dead Man Walking also shows that the Percy and Delacroix families, along with those who side with them, are also human. They have lost loved ones, had their lives wrecked perhaps beyond repair, and are left to live their lives with this permanent pain. It is not that they want to inflict pain on the Ponselets. They may not even want that eye for an eye that is quoted by them. They just want peace. 

Tim Robbins' script does well in guiding the viewer through a complex subject that does not tell one what conclusion to reach. At the execution, Matthew Ponselet asks forgiveness of Mr. Delacroix and tells the Percys that he hopes that his death will bring them peace. He also says that he thinks killing is wrong, no matter who does it. When he is executed, we see Walter and Hope reflected. It may be a bit poetic, and perhaps this is either symbolism or Matthew's vision. It works so well that one can read all sorts of things into this scene. 

Dead Man Walking is well-directed by Robbins as well, earning one of the film's four Oscar nominations. There are no big dramatic scenes, no grandiose rages or self-righteous speeches in favor or opposed to someone's view. It is, in fact, a surprisingly quiet film. 

Sarandon, the film's only Oscar win for Best Actress, is very quiet even when Sister Helen is firm. She communicates so much with her eyes, expressing deep sympathy for the parents who lost their children. She is comforting but also realistic, carrying a quiet strength throughout. Sister Helen, however, is not afraid to be firm when needed. Near the end, she quietly but firmly tells Matthew that he bears responsibility for his actions. Other actresses or directors might have made this a big scene, one where there is shouting and grand movement. Dead Man Walking has Sarandon speaking firmly but still in relatively hushed tones. She is not sotto voce, but she is not yelling either. That makes it more effective.

Penn, the third Oscar nomination (the film's fourth being for Bruce Springsteen's closing title song) also does well as Ponselet. He too does not rage, though he shows anger. That makes his final scenes where he tearfully breaks down all the more effective. Perhaps the Louisiana accent was a bit much, but that is a minor point. Everyone else in the cast was ably guided to where the film did something that should be standard: have us see the characters and not the performers.

There are moments of levity to ease the tension, but they are built into the story. Sister Helen and her fellow Sister, Colleen (Margo Martindale) are discussing where to bury Ponselet. Sister Colleen points out that the first available grave is to a deceased sister who left her fiancee at the convent and swore never to so much as touch another man. Now she was going to spend eternity next to one. After a brief pause, the two nuns burst out laughing. It is a natural moment, and one that cuts the tension of the situation.

For a film that runs a little over two hours, Dead Man Walking moves very fast. Perhaps the score with vocalizations by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Eddie Vedder, was a bit much. The same goes for Springsteen's song, which I was not big on. I do not know if having Tim Robbins' brother David write the score was a good or bad thing. 

In retrospect, Dead Man Walking is well-crafted, ably acted and surprisingly balanced. Whatever your views on the death penalty, it is worth watching Dead Man Walking to give some thought to the opposing view.

DECISION: B+