Dead Man Walking is a great movie. I saw this with friends and each of us came out switching their opinion of the “Death Penalty”... One idiot liberal ended up “pro-death penalty”, I was leaning against the death penalty and came out “anti-death penalty” as well as one friend was anti and she came out as pro. I was surprised at how good it was. It wasn’t preachy like “The Life of David Gale” where people walked out smiling that the lead character finally stopped talking.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve not yet seen it. I did like Klavan’s review, especially his humorous take on how a bunch of looneytune liberals could make (in his opinion) a great Christian movie. In this thread, we have a couple of strong recommendations and one vehement dissent. Sounds like there’s enough substance there to be worth a watch.
Frankly, what caught my eye initially was the presence of Sean Penn. His politics are — well, it’s Sunday morning, so I will refrain from using appropriate language here. And his personal life has been beyond the pale. But I will acknowledge that he’s a very good actor. I was impressed a couple of years ago when he teamed with Mel Gibson in The Professor and the Madman, which I watched because I had already read The Surgeon of Cawthorne. The man can act.
He’s also been making some noises recently about how the big studios and streaming networks are becoming the Borg and killing creativity and independent expression. That’s another story, but it’s important to take note when people on the left start punching back against the commissars. That’s not an endorsement of Sean Penn per se, but when people on the other side are occasionally right about something, we should take note. That’s the only way to develop wedge issues.