The 1995 movie, “Dead Man Walking” starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, really got to me in a way I wasn’t expecting. I looked up the movie online, learned what it was about, and then sat down in class, ready to watch the film. But I wasn’t expecting all the emotions that I was feeling as I watched the film. I didn’t expect it to make that large of an impact on an issue I though I had already made up my mind about.
The issue the film combats is the death penalty, a practice I do not support and I am proud to say I like in New Jersey, a state that does not condone the death penalty. However, I never thought twice about the people that the death penalty executed; I just knew that an eye for an eye wouldn’t do the world any good. I didn’t however, expect to get so emotional over the film. As much as I hated the character Matthew Poncelet beause of the crimes he committed, I began to see him through they eyes of Sister Helen. I have always been against the death penalty, but now I oppose it for different reasons. I couldn’t imagine slaughtering another human being, just because of a poor choice they made.
My views have changed because of the movie “Dead Man Walking”. I still support the same decision about the death penalty, but I believe that society would be better served keeping death row prisoners alive, and having them repent or at least assume responsibility for what they have done. At the end of the film, Matthew Poncelet was a changed man, but that was only moments before he was given a lethal injection. I would have liked to see what he would have done with his life, even if it was a life behind bars. However, the fictional character Poncelet, and the real men and women like him that are on death row today, may never get to live a changed life, because of the death penalty.
I feel obliged to preface this post by stating that I’m still not entirely sure on my view of the death penalty. I think that in some cases the only way for closure for the family and even to the perpetrator to a crime is the death penalty.
At the end of the movie “Dead Man Walking” when Sean Penn’s character Poncelot finally takes responsibility for his actions but this is only after he knows that in about 10 minutes he will be dead. At that point there is no denying it, and I truly believe if it were not for this fact then he would have continued his lie that he had had nothing to do with the crimes.
It seemed to me that throughout the movie not only did Penn seem unrepentant he also seemed unsympathetic to the family even hateful. In fact in the movie they showed scenes of Poncelot during the trial smiling…now the first person that jumps to my mind when I think “Who smiles at a murder trial?” is Charlie Manson.
So in conclusion I think that without the imminent threat of death Matthew Poncelot would have continued to live sitting in a cell fooling everyone, including himself, into thinking that he had not committed the murders.
What does that do for anyone involved?
I submit that because of the death penalty Poncelot was forced to come to the realization that he had raped and killed the teenagers. It will also make him realize that he had hurt the parents of those children deeply. Because of the death penalty and the guiding hands of a loving nun he is able to take responsibility and also to ask forgiveness of those he had hurt.
Perhaps this peace of mind and forgiveness creates some sort of balance of the death of a man.
I would also like to start my comment off by agreeing with hitchings327 and agreeing with the fact that I do not know what my opinion on the death penalty really is either. However, I would just like to point out a conflict with keeping people on death row for their entire lives. With no one being executed and people being forced to stay in prison, I believe prisons would becomes extremely overcrowded. Therefore, it would require more time and effort on the part of the government to make prisons biggers or even build a prison just for these types of prisoners. Not only would these people stick around for extremely long, but I feel like, if mixed with normal prisoners, they would have a negative effect. For example, drug trading would probably increase in jail. This is because the longer someone stays in jail, the more they learn the ropes of the system. This means that not only would the normal bad things that happen in prison increase, new crimes would probably spring up. So in general, I think it is just a waste of everyones time to keep them there for their entire lives because it is really just a waste of space and effort.
Not to start an angry debate in any way I just have to respond to both the blog and the comments. I agree with Ibdebrow that the death penalty is wrong and in the same way had a reaction to what I saw. I had never thought about the men or women on death row and how they are real people. They are human beings and go through many of the same troubles that we do.
In response to the comments I just have to say that I somewhat disagree with hitchings327. Although I do agree that there is a possibility that he may not have accepted the truth, he did know the truth and had no one to fool but himself. According to the United States Judicial system he is guilty, and as stated according to evidence we should believe so too. I do not think it is right to make people squirm through the threat of the death penalty. I know that you do not mean it as a way of torture, but in many ways it is. The imminent threat of death can make any man or woman go insane.
In response to carrisns I also disagree. I see your point about overcrowding in jails but the thing about it is that death row costs more money than housing a prisoner for life anyway. If you are worried about the overcrowding and are willing to kill a man for it, then by all means have it. But, I think that the money saved by not killing these men and women is enough to build more jails and set up programs for minor offenses.