Lethal Injection vs. the Electric Chair
The scene that I have chosen to discuss is the execution of Matthew Poncelet from the movie Dead Man Walking. This scene is the most important one of the movie because it is what the whole movie leads up to. The beginning of the scene shows the clock in the execution chamber at the time of 11:55 PM. It is only five minutes before the scheduled death of Matt. Then we see close up of the buckles that will hold Matt’s body on the gurney and the strap-down team buckle him in. There is no music, so the clicking of the buckles seems very loud to the audience. The nurse comes into the room to start I.V. that will administer the lethal combinations of drugs that will end Matt’s Life. She ironically cleans the injection site with an alcohol swab before inserting the needle, as if the prevent Matt from getting an infection. The next camera shot that we see is of the witnesses that will see Matt die. The victim’s parents are there, Sister Helen, and the lawyer are there, all dressed in business suits and dresses. Then the curtain opens, and Matt appears strapped to the gurney in a Christ-like position. Matt is shaking as he gives his last words through the glass to the witnesses. After he gives his speech, he and Helen share a te
nder last look and say I love you to one another. The gurney is lowered so that the injection can begin. Tim Robbins reminds us with a violent flashback of the murders that Matt and his partner committed of why Matt is being executed. Creepy and foreboding music starts as the first phase of the injection starts. The camera shows close-ups of the victims’ families and Matt’s face. The shots keep going bask and forth between the drugs entering Matt’s body the witnesses and the crime that he has committed. The word “finish” on the injection machine as the ending of the process. Helen has been praying with her eyes closed, as Matt’s eyes pop open when he is dead, Helen’s eyes open too. The ending of the scene is a shot of the victims’ lifeless bodies from above, and then Matt’s body in the same position as the victims’. The scene is a non-biased ending to a non-biased movie. The director, Tim Robbins, chose lethal injection rather than the electric chair as the method of death because it allowed him to show details of the execution and revealed the witnesses’ reaction to the death of Matthew Poncelet. Another important reason Robbins chooses lethal injection was so that he could show the last shot of the scene. The last shot shows the victims’ bodies dead in the woods, in a view from heaven. Then he shows Matt’s dead body in the same view, a view from heaven. By using camera angles and lighting we can assume that Matt went to heaven. The light is above him and he is looking towards
Some topics in this essay:
Pat’s Robert’s,
Tim Robbins,
Sister Helen,
Dead Walking,
Poncelet Choosing,
Walking Helen,
Sister Helen’s,
Matt’s Life,
lethal injection,
,
matt’s body,
method death,
Matthew Poncelet,
electric chair,
view heaven,
injection allowed,
actual death,
matt dying,
lethal injection allowed,
scene shot victims’,
sister helen,
shot victims’,
electric chair method,
chair method death,
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Approximate Word count = 1027
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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