The synopsis of the film is: The film's hero, Poncester, is a reckless, slutty punk. One day, he and his co-criminals kidnapped a young couple in a remote forest. The two abused the girl and brutally killed the couple, leaving their bodies in the forest. Later, Poncester was reported by his ex-wife. In the end, Poncester's accomplice was sentenced to life imprisonment. Poncester was sentenced to death, but he always insisted that the accomplice killed the two victims, and he was only the Watching and not intervening. The heroine, Sister Helen, is a cleric dedicated to public welfare. She was born in a lawyer's family, but lives in a slum where black people are scattered for public welfare. One day, after receiving a letter from Poncester, she went to visit Poncester in prison, and promised to fight for the opportunity to stop the execution for Ponce. But this was not an easy task. Despite the opposition of her family and the isolation of her friends, she resolutely sought opportunities for Poncester from the Amnesty Commission, the Governor and the Federal Court, and promised to be a prisoner one week before Pang was executed. Psychotherapist. And this position is rarely filled by women, and she has never taken on such an important role. Through a heart of justice, tolerance, and compassion, Sister Helen made Ponceste repent, and finally admitted that she had killed one of the victims, and walked to the torture chamber in fear and repentance. After he was injected with poisonous needles, the physical pain made him finally willing to express his remorse and sincere apology to the parents of the victim.
Both translations of the film's title are correct. "Dead Man Walking" in English is "Dead Man Walking", which is a slang term for prison guards in the United States. When a death row inmate walks out of the cell and is about to be executed, the prison guard will say this sentence. There is a close-up of this in the film. When prison guards took Poncester out of his cell to execute him, he shouted: "Dead man walking." This sentence means that the death row inmates will embark on the last part of their life. This short journey is like the bridge of sighs between the yin and yang worlds. After walking past it, it belongs to another world.
Another translation of the film is "168 Hours on Death Row". For Poncester, these 168 hours were 168 hours of waiting for redemption; for Sister Helen, it was 168 hours of saving a death row prisoner with her own strength and faith; For the families of the victims, it was the 168 hours when they could finally see the "beast" murderers who killed their children get the retribution they deserved; for Poncester's family, it was the 168 hours when he was about to say goodbye to Poncester forever. . These 168 hours, just 7 days, are 168 hours full of tangle and pain for most of the people in the film. Everyone's entanglement seemed to end when Poncester was executed. Poncester finally realized the great pain that his crime had caused to the families of the victims in the deepest regret, and sincerely confessed his guilt and remorse to them, and his sinful soul would be relieved and relieved because of his last remorse. The kind-hearted Sister Helen used her sincerity, tolerance, and compassion to influence a criminal who had committed a serious crime but did not truly repent, but blindly complained about his ex-wife, accomplice, government, and society, and finally was willing to sincerely regret it. The victim's father also saw Sister Helen's efforts, and gradually not only resented Poncester, but also finally chose to forgive. He even appeared at Poncester's funeral and was willing to pray with Sister Helen. Even when the victim's couple was executed in Poncester, the dead souls of the two people appeared on the glass of the execution chamber, which meant that the two had forgiven Poncester and their souls were finally comforted. And this consolation is not only because Poncester got the punishment he deserved - execution, but also because Poncester sincerely repented.
The film jumps out of the routine of other legal films that focus on case evidence, procedural justice, or discussing issues such as the legitimacy of the death penalty. In the film, the director shows more of a story of a sinful death row prisoner being influenced by a sincere nun, and finally repenting and redeeming his soul. But the redemption process is not that simple. At first Poncester's image was bad in the minds of the audience. In the face of the kind nun, Poncester acted frivolous and dishonest. He was unwilling to reveal his sincerity and just wanted to use the innocent Sister Helen. He lied to the nun that he did not participate in the killing but just watched his companions kill. The victim, he tried to gain the sympathy of the nun through this fact to fight for the opportunity to stop the death penalty. He didn't fully believe in the nun, but he could only pin his hopes on the nun, which showed that he was not as sincere in treating the nun as the nun was treating him. And after being imprisoned for so long, he did not sincerely regret his crimes, but just blindly thought about how to escape the fate of the death penalty. He did not realize that his sinful hands had caused a lifetime of pain for two innocent families. He even regarded the brutal Hitler as his idol. Those arrogant and remorseless words he said when facing the nuns and the TV interviews seemed to confirm the definition of "beast" defined by the outside world. His various performances are indeed like beasts in the eyes of the audience. The audience will not sympathize with such a bad image, and they feel that the death penalty is well deserved. But in the face of such an arrogant and dishonest death row prisoner, Sister Helen did not give up the chance to save Poncester, she believed that Jesus said, "Every person is more than their worst. There was crying and crying in the court, but it didn't help me at all. He learned to love. Before his execution, he said to his mother on the phone: I love you! He also sincerely repented of his crime to the victim's family, so he repented to the victim's family after being injected with poison. To the nuns who helped him, he sincerely thanked the nuns for his redemption. Finally, he said to the nun: I love you! It shows that he really understands the meaning of love, so his soul is finally redeemed.
After watching the whole film, during the process of the nun's redemption, the audience will gradually cease to be full of disgust and anger towards Poncester with the nun's influence on Poncester, and gradually learn to forgive, and even at the end, we seem to So concerned about the question of whether Poncester should atone for his sins with death. Because a soul who has learned to truly repent and learn how to love is more important than being physically executed. Maybe this is the director who wants to express his thoughts on the death penalty. The director did not discuss whether the death penalty should be retained or abolished, as this is an inconclusive topic. Rather, I hope the audience can see that the salvation of the soul is more important than the death penalty itself.
This is a subject worth pondering. Those criminals who committed heinous crimes, whether it is out of consolation for the parents of the deceased, or out of a warning for the sinful behavior in the society, most of the people and our government hope that these criminals can get the punishment they deserve. ,Sentenced to death. But how many death row prisoners face the death penalty calmly after sincerely repenting? Perhaps most death row prisoners don't really realize the depth of their guilt until they are executed, they simply fear death. So how necessary is the redemption of the souls of the death row criminals before their execution. Repentance in the soul is more important than execution in the body. So in reality, if we can give the death row prisoners more time for suspending their release and give them more humane guidance within the legal limit, even if we can't give them such a deep influence and insight as in the film, but for The victims and their families, the executioners and the spectators, can all relieve some of their spiritual burdens more or less.
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