DEAD MAN WALKING (1995) ***1/2 Relentlessly honest look at a Louisiana death penalty case as it winds its way through the hells of justice to the executioner's lair. There are stronger anti-death penalty cases to be made, but most of us would agree that the scores of (later proved) innocent death penalty victims should have been spared. Instead Tim Robbins drums up a Hitler-lovin' terrorist wannabe who has committed a crime calculated to arouse as little sympathy as possible, and so present a broader attack on the death penalty in any circumstances. True story. He's Sean Penn, absolutely convincing as a south Louisiana "Hey, bra'" gone wrong, or is that redundant? His vocal intonations and mannerisms are perfect. He could easily infiltrate the Duke campaign, or whatever's going on in Metairie these days. No less meticulous is Susan Sarandon as a nun (really!) who confounds onlookers with the purity and simplicity of her approach. The suffering of the families involved, of the perpetrator and the victims, is very raw, presented starkly with a running camera. Films like this, serious and ultimately depressing, will never be the ultimate cinema experience for me. This one could have gone well wrong, endless dialogues between people not even in the same room are the foundation, but the excellence of the principals, and the arrant production make it all go right, and more important, important. Great soundtrack designed to catalyze a new new left coalition with Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder.
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