Dead Man Walking

What is it about this film that separates it from other prison movies? What’s in this film that’s not in others? ‘In the Name of the Father’ & ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ are two very good and successful prison movies. Do these and ‘Dead Man Walking’ have something in common?

God.

These films all deal with faith. ‘Father’s’ main character is an unbeliever, and ‘Shawshank’ is less forward (more to do with hope), but Dead Man Walking steers directly into the big three: Faith, Hope, & Love. Sean Penn plays a total dirt bag protagonist, a killer/rapist who won’t own up to his crimes. The theme of this film is all about the fact that he won’t own up to it. This is a film about redemption, repentance, humility, and penitence (only a penitent man will pass… penitent… penitent (Sean Connery in Indiana Jones III)). Penn’s character is an anti-hero, yes, even though it could be argued he’s not the protagonist at all. I think he is because I pull for him in the film, not for him to get paroled or saved of the death penalty, but for him to admit to his crimes. Sarandon is the hero, while Penn is her pupil in heroism.

HOPE: This film tackles the concept of hope in backward ways. Sarandon’s nun is confronted with all sorts of hypocrisy, misinformation, and fears that she has to swallow and/or ignore in order to keep up her battle (right or wrong). I like how she reacts when her black friends no longer accept her when Penn’s racism is broadcast. She’s not shown pleading with them or explaining her situation with them. She simply swallows the bad news and accepts it. Their feelings are understandable, after all. She hopes beyond reason (what other kind of hope is there?) that Penn will see the light. Penn hopes he will be spared the death penalty, and he is driven to prove himself right even though he knows he is wrong.

FAITH: The driving question of this film is "will he confess?" Confessing unto God and giving oneself to God’s mercy is what faith is all about, I think. Admitting sins and believing that Jesus will forgive you those sins. Penn has no faith, especially in God, while faith is all Sarandon has. The strength of her faith, untempered by any exposure to the prison before (unlike the prison priest), is the sole catalyst to Penn’s redemption.

LOVE: Penn even says "I love you" to Sarandon at one point. He is desperate, and that love may have come from his desperation, but he loves nonetheless. Sarandon loves Penn with the same open heart that she loves her own family as well as the families of the victims. She is the sole character that loves this honestly and unconditionally, and is a high water mark to which all the other characters can be compared.

This film takes an approach to its story that few do. It has a morality and humility that few films of any kind have. This not only separates it from other prison films but from most films that are so very centered on the bad in life. To see a film centered on the good in life is rare indeed, and to portray the good in such a bad man takes guts and undying belief in the film. I love this movie; its basis in spirituality, its emotional realities, its straightforward approach that asks no permission. It is a rare movie in that it deals with spirituality, especially Christianity, and even more especially Catholicism. But it goes deeper than simple moral tongue flapping and soap-boxing. It goes beneath faith to expose where it may come from. It shows where hope begins after pride is left behind, and it presents love as the common denominator of humanity from its most demonic to its most chaste.