Dead Man Walking is a film based on a novel by Helen Prejean, a nun about her work as a spiritual guide for prisoners in death row. The role of spiritual guides is to spend the final days and hours in the company of prisoners about to be executed. Prejean's novel is fictional but based on the true story of two brothers who raped an murdered a teenage couple in Louisiana.
The main characters of Dead Man Walking are the nun Helen Prejean, played by Susan Sarandon, and Matthew Poncelet, a young man in death row, portrayed by Sean Penn. Other characters include the families of the victims and the perpetrator. The main themes of the film are the moral and the spiritual struggles of the perpetrator who claims he shouldn't be in death row as he did not pull the trigger but who ultimately owns up to his crimes and takes responsibility for them, the moral justification of the death penalty and the contradictions therein, the death penalty as a judicial process and as a political question, and above all, the impact of the crime and the punishment on the parties involved including the families of the victims and the perpetrator - and the perpetrator himself.
The acting is superb. There isn't a hint of melodrama in any of the understated but powerful performances. Susan Sarandon received an Academy Award for her performance. In my opinion, Sean Penn is even better as Matthew Poncelet. It was surprising to see R Lee Ermey in the role of the father of the murdered girl. His role is not too complex. Raymond J. Barry is very good as the father of the murdered boy. The boy's parents' marriage does not survive the death of a child as a homicide victim as is the case 70% of the time. Barry's portrayal of the loss is credible.
The screenwriting and the direction are very good. The only aspect of the film that disappoints is the sound engineering. But that is a minor problem.
I give Dead Man Walking five minus out of five stars.
