Dead Man Walking

Plot
Matthew P (Penn) is a week away from execution for the murder of a young couple. He seeks out nun Helen Prejean (Sarandon) to be his spirit guide in his final days, as well as help with a stay of execution. Helen finds that her first assistance with a prisoner on death row is tougher than it seems, when the victims’ families call on her to join ‘their’ side.

Direction

Robbins shows tremendous talent behind the lens in his second feature film. Robbins co-wrote the film from the novel of the same name. There are some great techniques used – notably some zoom work – both in to extreme close up, and out.

There are many moments within the conversations between Helen and Matthew where they sit on opposite sides of a prison wall, and in some of these there is clever uses of reflections in order to have both characters on screen.

Cast

Sarandon and Penn give both Oscar winning, and nominated performances respectively (ironically Penn would go on to win his first Oscar alongside Robbins in Mystic River which I have previously reviewed.

Both are exceptional, and give almost flawless performances. A small nit-pick is that I did find Penn’s dialogue hard to decipher at times, however he is completely be

Screenplay Setting Themes

The settings of ‘The South’ of America is front and centre with the characterisations of the characters,

The screenplay is wonderfully written, and is very mature – especially during the conversations between Helen and both Matthew, and his victims’ families.

The main themes are evident in the characters, there is the over empathetic Helen who grows close to Matthew and his victims’ families, and the almost apathetic Matthew. Matthew’s redemption for his sins is a prominent theme throughout, especially seen in the later part of the film.

Score /Soundtrack

There is an audibly intrusive at times score, and this is during the r*pe scenes. This is very well done, as it adds to the discomfort to what we are witnessing on screen. A soft ‘Southern’ score occurs sporadically.

Overall

Exceptionally well-made film. All aspects are brilliantly done. One of Robbins co-stars from his previous prison film, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ Clancy Brown appears briefly in a role very early in the film. A strong recommend from me.

4.5/5