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“Figures I'd have
to die to find love, thank you for loving me,” says Matthew
Poncelet, some of the final words of a man facing his imminent death.
Dead Man Walking is a film
about the death penalty, but even more so it is a film about love.
It's not romantic love, dramatized and spiced up for the big screen,
it is dirty, difficult, full of tears and more real than anything one
could ever fabricate. It addresses Mahatma Gandhi's oft-quoted
statement about Christians not acting like Jesus by showing a
Christian who truly imitates Christ's love for the, by worldy
standards, despicable and unloveable. Whether the makers of Dead
Man Walking intended it or not,
they created one of the most spiritual and truly religious films that
has come out of Hollywood in a long while, possibly ever.
Poncelet's
opinion of religion is made clear from some of his first statements.
Rolling his eyes at Sister Helen, he mentions the chaplain is a “very
religious man.” Poncelet clearly expects Sister Helen to spend her
time attempting to convert him. He tries to tick her off from the
get-go, with his racist comments, statements about religion and
prying questions about her sexual life, or lack thereof. Sister
Helen's response is always seasoned with grace. At one point she
tells Poncelet that she is “following the example of Jesus” and
that “every person is worth more than their worst act.” These two
statements are clear themes playing throughout the film as Sister
Helen helps Poncelet with his appeal, and when it is denied, agrees
to be his spiritual counselor during his last days.
At
one point she admits to a fellow Sister that she's not sure she
“really likes him,” which is possibly one of the greatest
understatements of the film. Dead Man Walking
does a spectacular job of not creating a martyr or a victim. Matthew
Poncelet is not a pitiable soul. He is actually quite despicable. His
words are full of racism and hatred, he is a Nazi-wannabe spouting
the superiority of the Aryan race. In addition to that, he is in
prison for the brutal rape and murder of two teenagers. By every
logical right, Poncelet deserves what he's getting. If anyone
deserved the death penalty, it would be someone like him. But he can
be saved, and this is the theme of the film, this is the theme of
Sister Helen's care. Not saved like turned into a Bible-thumping
Baptist spouting scripture and singing gospel hymns as the needle
goes in, but saved like redeemed, acknowledging his sin and accepting
the forgiveness and love that readily awaits.
Charles
Colson put it well in his review of the film, saying “it's through
Sister Helen's eyes we are finally able to perceive Poncelet as
something other than a monster, and that's what makes Dead
Man Walking a profoundly
Christian movie. Sister Helen insists on loving the loathsome
Poncelet out of her love for Christ.” This is so true. We don't
hate Poncelet, because Sister Helen doesn't hate him, and through her
love, care and dedication for him we see that Jesus doesn't hate
Poncelet either. Dead Man Walking
shows Poncelet to still be a human being, with every capability of
being saved and redeemed. The movie displays repentance and the
unconditional love of Christ more clearly than probably any other
film made by a non-religious filmmaker.
True
Christianity is about unconditional love, and that is what Sister
Helen portrays. The Bible and Christianity teach that Jesus changed
the world with His radical love, that Jesus' love gives people worth,
and that is what is shown by Sister Helen. She loves someone who is
utterly unloveable, and through that she gives a dead man worth.
Popular film commentator, Roger Ebert, said, “Sister Helen is one
of the few truly spiritual characters I have seen in the movies.
Movies about "religion" are often only that - movies about
secular organizations that deal in spirituality. It is so rare to
find a movie character who truly does try to live according to the
teachings of Jesus (or anyone else, for that matter) that it's a
little disorienting: This character will behave according to what she
thinks is right, not according to the needs of a plot, the
requirements of a formula, or the pieties of those for whom religion,
good grooming, polite manners and prosperity are all more or less the
same thing.” The fact that Dead Man Walking
is based on a true story makes it even more powerful. This is not
just a commentary on the death penalty or a portrayal of how
Christianity should be, it tells the story of what Christianity
really is, what it truly looks like for someone to live and love like
Jesus.
The
cinematography in Dead Man Walking
is stark and truthful. During the final scene of Poncelet's life the
cutting and camera shots are spectacular. As the vials slowly empty
their deadly fluids into Poncelet's veins the film flashes back to
the night when Poncelet and the other man rape and brutally murder
the teenagers. There is no forgetting what he has done. It is
horrible, reprehensible, despicable, unforgivable by any human
standards. But in the midst of this knowledge of Poncelet's evil
actions, Sister Helen whispers that she loves him, hand stretched
towards him as she offers silent prayers to Heaven. This is the
message of Dead Man Walking,
that no matter what a person has done, there is grace and forgiveness
for all. Dead Man Walking
is one of the most spiritual and religious stories to ever come out
of a non-religious film, it is about true love, forgiveness, grace,
repentance and redemption, because “every person is worth more than
their worst act.”
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