MovieChat Forums > Dead Man Walking (1996) Discussion > This movie is WAY over most of your head...

This movie is WAY over most of your heads...

posted 15 years ago by cpalozie
30 replies | jump to latest

Any time I see a movie that I actually find to be truly thought-inspiring, I've made it a bit of a habbit to check the IMDB boards to just read around on different perspectives of the film.

I have to say that in regards to Dead Man Walking, I've found myself more annoyed than anything at how the majority of people posting have simplified this film and taken away everything that made it as fantastic as it was through ignorant and uneducated ramblings about the death penalty.

First off, capital punishment is a serious issue embodied with moral and ethical concepts that have been at war for centuries. Any person who can take a firm 100% position for or against the death penalty is either uninformed, uneducated, completely ignorant, or completely stupid. If you are one of these people, learn to RESEARCH, READ, and EDUCATE yourself on an issue through individual thought, self-questioning, and personal reasoning. You'll find that ANYTHING worth feeling strongly about is usually much more complex at the roots than it is at the surface.

Secondly, the magic of this movie was the director and actors' abilities to portray the depth of the death penalty issue on all perspectives... through the eyes of the victims, the perpatrators, and an outsider. The victims' famlies are one-sided, the perp is one-sided, and the outsider jumps back and forth.

Lastly, this movie's message is neither for nor against the death penalty. The movie's message is that there is no right answer, only the empty void of tragedy that is left when brutal crimes occur... and that tragedy is felt by much more than the victim.

[–] dbrockskk1 10 years ago

it's "habit" and "perpetrators" Stay in school. It's impossible to take you seriously.

suzycreamcheese RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008

[–] dustypistol 9 years ago

Smart post, I couldn't agree more. The tons of people who are arguing "OMG FOR" or "OMG AGAINST" the D. penalty are, in fact, acting just like the narrow-minded people that most of this movie is about - those who cannot patiently observe and learn from life and complexity without almost immediately leaping to conclusions that are often terribly damaging to others.

The reason this movie is so worthy of watching is BECAUSE it shows the issue from almost all points of view without taking sides or becoming overly preachy (it's hard to be "perfectly" unbiased, probably impossible). Some people seem to think this movie is super-ANTI-D.Penalty just because the main character tried to do "as Jesus taught/did" and try to show a love to sinners that she (and H?e) believed all humans should be shown; this is simply not the case -- the movie isn't obviously anti- OR pro- death penalty. Instead it let viewers make up their own minds, and didn't shove an ideology down our throats. Apparently a film has to do that now though, because if it doesn't (i.e. if it isn't propaganda) people will assume it is anyway. *smh*

And no, the fact that the movie asks the question of WHETHER or not a murderer can find redemption or not, does not mean it said anything to answer the question one way or the other. The movie did not say "yes, he is redeemed", or "no, there is no redemption for that level of sin". It was up to US to decide (or not, if, like me, there is just no easy way to make that decision.)

A rare movie that asks, and does not answer... instead lets us try to find an answer, if we can. And if not, isn't that even more poignant and intersting? Or am I just old? Lol. :p Wow people are eager to argue.

[–] philowiz 9 years ago

YES!!!! Totally agree apalozie! Well said

[–] TheMan18 (13015) 3 years ago

"The movie's message is that there is no right answer, only the empty void of tragedy that is left when brutal crimes occur... and that tragedy is felt by much more than the victim."

Funny you should mention this, at this very last statement of yours reminds me of, and can be applied to, many other facts and factors of life as well, including even ones not related to "outright brutal crimes" like portrayed in this movie, but various unfortunate facts that we as human beings experience in our lives, some more severe than others.

This may also explain both why and that life in general doesn't work like a fairytale and an action movie does, where bad guys and villains die and heroes win and everyone "lives happily ever after".

[–] TheMan18 (13015) 2 days ago

"Lastly, this movie's message is neither for nor against the death penalty."

While we may see it this way in this movie, as an interesting slice of trivia, both the film's director Tim Robbins and actress Susan Sarandon in real life were and still are actually against the death penalty.