death penalty themed films

Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) is a Catholic nun who exemplifies the compassion of Jesus in her work with death row prisoners. While teaching in a Louisiana ghetto, she begins corresponding with Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), who has been sentenced to death for the brutal murders of two teenage lovers. It takes all of Sister Helen's patience to stomach this young man's anger, racial hatred, and callous disregard of the suffering he has brought into the lives of others. At the same time, she is shocked by the grim realities of prison life and the extent of Pocelet's isolation and loneliness.

When all his legal appeals fail, Sister Helen agrees to be his spiritual advisor during the remaining days of his life. Meeting the parents of the slain teenagers in court, she eventually visits them and listens to their accounts of grief, rage, and loss.

During her vigil with Poncelet during his last hours on earth, Sister Jean is taken aback by his torment and the chilly aloofness of prison officials who won't allow him to hug his mother or listen to music. She also is forced to listen to arguments on the moral rightness of capital punishment from

a Catholic prison chaplain and several guards.

The end result is a shocking and depressing wallop to your sensibilities, there's no doubt that Let Him Have It will stick in my memory for years to come, reminding me of the often injustices that the mentally challenged and people with mental disorders face in regards to the death penalty.

The death penalty is by far the most severe of all sentences. It has been banned in many countries around the world, but in the United States, more and more states are resorting to capital punishment for serious offenses such as murder. Today, there is a big controversy over capital punishment whether or not it works, or if it is morally right. We have a certain privilege on our own lives, but do the lives of others belong to us as well? Do we have the right to decide to take a life from one that takes a life? We find someone guilty of murder and sentence him to death, does that make murderers out of ourselves, and our “good intentions”? Can justice justify our acts? Is the death penalty a "Cruel and Unusual" punishment or is it now a necessary tool in the war on crime? With the increase in crime and violence in our society, the issue of the death penalty will likely continue to rage for decades to come.

This story takes place at the end of the 1950s, in a more innocent America, a small rural farm town. At this time everyone knew everyone else, and people enjoyed a relatively safe life. Once the feeling of safety is violated, the typical human responses of hate, revenge, and ignorance swell in the small community, sealing the fate of these two men.

Many descriptive details were utilized in this movie to likely make the people more real to the audience. It helps you to picture and understand each person in a different light. Truman Capote also uses what one might call a teaser. He switches from one character to the next making you wait to find out what happens with the last character.

LET HIM HAVE IT

The death penalty, regardless of your stance on it, is littered with so many injustices and faults that it's an embarrassment to our entire due process of law. Many times, supporters of capital punishment subscribe to religious and ethical points of view rather than facts, and all to often, when they do offer facts it's usually the same argument, that is that the Death Penalty is a deterrent. I don’t think too many perpetrators of murder are in a rational state of mind to consider the consequences of their actions before they carry out their crimes.

Some topics in this essay:
Death Penalty, Mexico Hickock, Sister Helen, Dead Walking, Sister Prejeans, Chris” Chris, Truman Capote, Clutter Enraged, Derek Eccleston, Chris Reynolds, death penalty, capital punishment, dick hickock, perry smith, dead walking, sister helen, cold blood, hatred matthew, holcomb kansas, lethal injection,