Dead Man Walking
I had avoided renting this for a long time because I wanted to be completely in the mood and prepared for a heavy movie. I knew they would show the murder scene and I figured that, like "The Accused" and some other movies, it would be pretty bad. I'm happy to say it wasn't all that bad. I actually didn't have to cover my eyes.
Sean Penn is amazing. My favorite scene of his in the whole movie is the day after Susan Sarandon has to unexpectedly leave because she passes out. He approaches her, yelling, "Where were you? Are you okay? I had to spend the whole day alone!" I don't know why, really, but I could totally relate to how he felt. He felt about four years old when you lose your mom in the grocery store. He was completely vulnerable, angry, and scared. He had needed her, and she hadn't been there. In that short scene, Sean Penn captured all of that honest, primal stuff. Wow.
Susan Sarandon is good, as always. I empathized with her character more than any other character in this movie. I don't know if that was the intention. When she wept because she was confused or sad, that's who I felt bad for, and not really the murderer or the victims' families, although I was sorry for them too. Which is sort of weird, I guess.
Go ahead and rent it. It's compelling. It does an excellent job of portraying both sides of the death penalty issue. And there's some incredible acting.