Film britannique, américain de Tim Robbins avec Susan Sarandon et Sean Penn. Sorti en 1995. Revenge and Redemption....
I chose this spiritually enlightened drama because it conveys compellingly deep feelings about human morality and humanity. The film raises not a question of guilt or innocence, but a moral issue: are all people ultimately human beings, imbued with the possibility of redemption, or not? In short, this is the story of Sister Prejean struggling to embrace the idea that no matter how much suffering a criminal has caused, that person is still a human being and still deserving of a measure of compassion and empathy.
I was particularly moved by the relationship between the two main characters : Matthew Poncelet, a convicted rapist and murderer who is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the State of Louisiana and Sister Helen Prejean, a rather naive nun who finds herself unwillingly in the middle of a passionate controversy This amiable nun becomes Poncelet's spiritual counselor upon his request to help him express remorse for his actions and accept God into his life - thus saving his soul, so that he may die with dignity. As soon as we meet her, we grasp what a generous person she is and to what extent she is strong since she is exposed to everyone's pain and does not fail her mission. Although Sister Prejean is in the beginning quite unsure, she becomes able to see a side of Matthew that no one else was able, or even wanted to see. Faithful to good Christian morals and values, she strives to teach others to respect life and become a Son of God, that's why she's the person we identify with. This faith compels her to be supportive until the very end although she is being torn apart because she does no want to hurt anyone?s feelings.
Facing Helen, Poncelot's character is a complex one because despite his being a cold-blooded fiend, he nonetheless becomes pitiable. His convincing facial expressions, voice and demeanor contribute to making him both fearsome and contemptible. The director succeeds in making an initially vile character ultimately sympathetic without resorting to sentiment or manipulation. At the beginning of the movie Matthew is rude, abrupt and seems to only care about himself but deep down, he feels lonely. By talking and sharing with Sister Helen he starts to understand what he did was wrong. He accepts that what he did was wrong and should be punished for it, but not punished to death.
This leads to what I also appreciated about the movie: the fact that the director doesn't give a clear-cut solution and avoids a biased message when dealing with the death penalty issue. The shifts between the crime scene, the perpetrator, and the nun's explorations of the scenario propagate attitude changes with every new scene. You can see the horrible crime that was committed, in excruciating detail, and then you're made to consider the fact that further death -executing the murderer- will not really solve anything. ON the one hand, we side with those who support capital punishment. They believe that, in theory, there are certain crimes so atrocious that those who commit them should be required to forfeit their life as compensation. On the other hand, the platonic point of view is also embraced. Plato says in "The Republic" that reason must be the governing part of the soul and must have control over desire and spirit. This implies that Mathew was wrong to let his emotions drive him to rape and murder but it implies just as much that the victimized parents' wrath isn't appropriate either. The bottom line, in my opinion, resides in Poncelet's last words, "I don't think killing is right, whether I do it, or you, or the government." What is also unsettling is that we feel the system is flawed. Poncelet's accomplice hired a hotshot lawyer and received a life sentence, while he could afford only a public defender and received the death sentence. Even politicians do not escape the scope of the film. Most politicians find it unsafe for their political career to be seen as soft on crime. In the film, Poncelet is not much more than a pawn in their bids for election, which is downright scandalous. Furthermore, often it is the executioners who are most traumatized by the execution, not the government. In that case, you come to wonder who is the victim?
To tackle a final important point, the movie explores universal themes such as revenge and redemption, crime and punishment, and fear and salvation, avoiding obvious clichés. The director doesn't attempt to portray Mathew as a wrongly accused innocent man or someone misunderstood by society. Never once do we see him try to appeal to the audience's sympathy, and his eventual salvation comes on his terms alone. Moreover, rather than making Prejean a saint, Sarandon plays her as an unwaveringly decent but flawed human being.
To conclude, I think that giving pain and personality to both sides of the issue at a time when more than half of the Americans is in support of capital punishment is truly gutsy. In addition, not only the movie is serious food for thought in a startling and provocative way for an audience used to being intellectually passive while watching a movie, but it also provides sheer moments of inspiration.
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25/03/2004
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