Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This is a brilliant masterpiece that showcases the talents of two fine performers(Penn and Sarandon). Film is based on true events that happened in Louisiana involving man on death row and the spiritual advisor who consults with him during his last few days on death row. Acting and writing are all top-notch in this one. There are good supporting players too including R. Lee Ermey(Full Metal Jacket-Gunnery Sgt. Hartman!)
Rating:
Summary: I was sobbing through the end...
Review: This movie really made me think. Before watching it, I was strongly opposed to the death penalty. Afterward, my opposition was stronger than ever. "Dead Man Walking" examines all points of view, and gives a good picture of the death penalty from all sides. This movie is neither for nor against the death penalty, it gives you everyone's point of view, from religous people, to the victims' families, to the criminal himself. Toward the end, I could not help but sob. I thought that The Green Mile would be the most emotional film I would ever see in regards to the death penalty, but I was wrong. This film was indeed more dramatic. It made me feel even stronger about my beliefs on the subject, and showed the whole picture. I am going to buy the book, and get the nonfiction account that this movie was based on!
Rating:
Summary: Masterfully Directed
Review: Can you imagine a non-documentary film that discusses every possible angle of a highly-charged subject such as the death penalty but does NOT take a side? That is precisely what Tim Robbins has done with Dead Man Walking. The characters are exceptionally believable and do perfect justice to the different feelings we all have on the subject of capital punishment. At the end of the film you truly don't know which side the director is on. And in the end, we see flashes of the murder victims and the executed criminal, three dead human beings, and we can say either, "good, the SOB got what he deserved" or "now we have three dead people instead of two, and the victims are still just as dead." I would encourage everyone, regardless of their opinion about the death penalty, to watch this film. If at the end, your position is as firm as ever, that's great; if you change your mind or at least rethink your position, that's great too, but either way your opinion is informed rather than based solely on emotion.
Rating: 
Summary: Only film in my 40+yrs to ENRAGE me
Review: I have never felt so ANGRY about seeing a movie. That nun held his hand, said "Goodbye" and he had the chance to say his "Goodbye's". I say, What a nice way to go because his victims didn't have such opportunities. Now he will never escape, be paroled, or God forbid freed only to reoffend. The actors, the story, the filming itself was well done. It must have been good to elicit such strong emotion from me. This is no feel good movie though & I'll gladly never see this one again. I only wish I could forget it.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Artistic
Review: I regretted having delayed to see this movie. It is the story of Sr Helen Prejean who meets a man who has been on Death Row for six years and had only less than a week to live. The movie depicts her compassionate journey with him to the end. The powerfully simple script without any dramatic twists and the compelling characters brillaintly acted out by Oscar winner Susan Sarandon along with Sean Penn, make this a memorable movie of all time. The penetrating message about the capital punishment continues to be relevant to our society.
Rating: 
Summary: Redemption and Salvation
Review: I came into this movie with the idea that this would be a politically charged, fire and brimstone attack on the death penalty and what I came away from the movie was less a political story than a story of redemption and salvation and the implications on the soul that comes with it. Sean Penn delivers a powerful performance as a man angry with the world yet unable to come to grips, or deal with the crime he was involved with. A powerful movie and well worth a look at.
Rating:
Summary: Intense and gripping!
Review: "Dead Man Walking" tells the true story of one Sister Helen Prejean, a uniquely compassionate nun who goes on an emotionally taxing journey with a man who, after being on Death Row for six years, is scheduled to die within a week of their first meeting. What she will encounter on this journey will be an experience unlike anything she has ever encountered, as she must try to bring him to the realization that he must atone for his crimes in order to receive God's salvation. This is, without a doubt, one of the best films of 1995, as well as any year. The film has courage and strength, as well as portraying both of these qualities in its characters, who are given room and time to develop the story on their own terms. It inspires feelings about so many different issues on many complex levels, while never really taking a side on any of these issues. The movie is what you make it out to be: is he a guilty man? Does he only want redemption because of his impending death? Or has he truly changed? The movie takes its time in allowing us to decide this, beginning with Sister Helen's life among the people she teaches in a black neighborhood, where she lives. From the beginning, we know that she is not a prejudice person, nor does she allow her religious beliefs to get in the way of helping people, which is evident in her action of responding to a letter from a Death Row convict named Matthew Poncelet, whose crimes include rape and murder. As she begins having meetings with him, she only feels that she is doing what her calling requires: helping those who would seek salvation in their quest to find it. She gets more than she bargained for by meeting Poncelet, whose mustache and goatee, sleek hair and tattoos, and objective language practically scream the word "criminal." During their first meetings, the audience will practically feel the tension between the two characters, especially as Poncelet begins using his foul terms in the presence of Prejean, who never flinches but is noticeably uncomfortable with his language. But she presses on, first diving into his political views, but then realizing that in order for her to be able to get through this without falling apart, she will need to focus on getting him to confess his part in the crime and take responsibility for his sins. This is done with some of the most powerful acting performances I've ever seen in a film. Susan Sarandon is totally convincing as Sister Helen, who is portrayed as timid on the outside but posesses a strong will and determination to accomplish what she has sought out to do. Her kind nature and caring heart are the perfect contrast for Sean Penn, who brings a terrific balance of contempt and sorrow to the character of Poncelet. This is one of his best performances ever, portraying the convict as cold and heartless in the face of his crimes, but once alone with Sister Helen, he has no where to hide. The movie also dives into an even more emotional turmoil: the impact that a murder has on the families of the victims and the criminals. Sister Helen visits both the family of Poncelet, and the families of the murder victims, all of whom feel intense emotion and sadness over the crimes. Poncelet's mother feels a strong sense of sadness over the situation her son has gotten himself into, blaming it on the influence his older friend had on him. The parents of the murder victims, who are at first contemptuous of Sister Helen, tell their side of the story in such a way that Sister Helen, as well as the audience, becomes torn not over who to believe, but who to feel more sympathy for. It becomes a tug-of-war of sorts, where in one instance we feel remorse for one side, then the other, but very rarely both. It focuses so much on one point at a time that we forget about everything else but the conversation going on at present. The movie also has a lot to say about how we as a society act in terms of different beliefs about capital punishment. The entire plot of the movie centers around the countdown to Poncelet's death, with the victims' parents and their supporters crying out for the death penalty, while Sister Helen and Poncelet's lawyer try desperately to stop it from happening in hopes that she may be able to turn his life around. I felt such a sense of mortal disgust at the final sequences of the film, during the scene of the execution, in which the victims' parents and others gather to converse before watching Poncelet's execution. The movie builds up so emotion before this final scene that one cannot help but feel some contempt for those who would even wish to see such an event take place. However you may take it, the issues the movie touches will inspire some sort of feeling inside, and you cannot help but look at what you feel for the issues at hand. A very simple story with complex emotions and compelling characters, "Dead Man Walking" is a film that will touch the hearts of all who see it, religious and non-religious alike. The story never stutters in its portrayal of a hardened man's journey down the path of redemption, and the one woman who stood by his side through it all. This is as good as movies get, and not much better than this, either.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: Very overrated. I just cannot like movies with such poor fakeaccents. Once again, instead of hopelessly trying to imitate Southerndialects, most actors should just use their everyday accents. It'sok. We understand if you can't speak like us. But please don'tinsult us by trying. Sean Penn's attempt is the worst I've seen sinceTravolta in "The General's Daughter". I could barely understanda single word he said. He just didn't seem to put a lot of effortinto role. All in all, this movie is anti-death penalty propaganda.They pathetically try to convince us to feel sorry for a murderer andrapist. It doesn't work. I actually WANTED him dead before the moviewas halfway. And once again, in yet another insult to humanintelligence, Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) is even morefoolish than the portrayal of innocence is supposed to make usbelieve. Every other scene, I felt like screaming at her for puttingall her faith in a cold-blooded killer while turning her back on thevictims' families. Other than getting my blood boiling, this moviedid little else for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, great script, great performances
Review: No matter what your feelings about the death penalty might be, viewers will find that this two hour film is a sensitive, thoughtful, and thought provoking look at the highest debated and controversial political issue of today. However, what this film won't do (at least it didn't to me or anyone else I know) is alter one's opinions as to the righteousness of this punishment. If you were pro death penalty (as I staunchly am) before viewing this movie, you'll probably remain that way. And vice versa. Under the tender guidance of director Tim Robbins, the cast and crew bring this emotionally charged story to life. Far from being biased or bigoted, it is refreshing in its neutrality. Views from each sides of this topic are presented and discussed deeply. Remittingly unsentimental, it is a truly graphic and gut wrenching illustration of suffering and sickening waste of life, for there are no real winners in this story. There are only losers. How horrendously and horrifically sad that stark fact is. Susan Sarandon won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in this film, and no wonder; she breathes vulnerability and compassion into a character who so easily could have been depicted as a pious bible basher. She literally BECOMES Sister Helen Prejean, and one tends to forget that she is merely an actress playing a role. That is how realistically convincing she is. But Sean Penn, (seemingly in his element as a bad boy) as Matthew Poncelet, initially simply reeks of evil and barbarity, and such is his talent as an actor that he manages to imbibe into this seemingly unredeemable specimen an air of humanity and sympathy. He dominates every scene in which he appears, and he deserves five stars, kudos, plaudits, and then some for this performance. He too, BECOMES his character, and his performance as the creepy Poncelet is the most chilling and evocative portrayal of a murderer since Anthony Hopkins's magnum opus Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence Of The Lambs." In that instance, Hopkins deservedly won the Best Actor Oscar. In this case, Penn was wrongfully deprived of the Academy Award that rightfully should have been his.
Rating:
Summary: A movie without easy answers or bumper-sticker philosophies
Review: Dead Man Walking is a rare gem of a movie. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, three-time Nobel Prize nominee and noted death penalty activist, the movie follows Sister Helen's spiritual, philosophical, and emotional journey as she acts as a spiritual advisor to a prisoner on Louisiana's Death Row. The film opens with Prejean accepting the position, not knowing what to expect, and continues with her harrowing personal journey as she meets the prisoner she has been corresponding with, the families of the prisoner's victims, and the lawmen involved both in his arrest and his incarceration. Dead Man Walking isn't simple bleeding-heart propaganda, and truly shines because the film - like Prejean's wonderful book - refuses to take the easy way out. Writer/director Tim Robbin's script gives equal time to both sides of this divisive issue, and trivializes neither by compacting tense, emotions into sound bites and bumper-sticker philosophy, which is what happens all too frequently in movies that pretend to be "deep" and "meaningful." Deciding where one stands on any philosophical and ethical issue is never an easy decision, and Dead Man Walking takes that path of discovery and truly gives it its fair due. The film leaves the viewer with more questions than answers, but does take a rather anti-capital punishment stance towards the end, as the main character begins to from her opinions. Dead Man Walking is as fine a piece of filmmaking as anyone can ask, with excellent preformances all around (Sarandon won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Prejean). The death penalty is not a simple issue, since it taps into some of our rawest emotions; it is one thing to sit in a classroom and debate, or form an "ethic" based upon reading a book, and quite another to face the person that raped and killed your daughter or son, mother or father, brother or sister. This film is complicated enough to wrestle with that issue and come out as a shining example of the level of thought that can go into one production. People expecting easy answers, propaganda, or re-affirmation of their point of view shouldn't watch. Those who are interested in a layered piece of human experienced universalized, Dead Man Walking is highly recommended.
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