Dead Man Walking (1995)

One of the points of doing a challenge or a blog like this is to watch films that have some critical acclaim to them or made an impact when they came out. I definitely remember the film that I chose for today made an impact when it was nominated for four Oscars and took one home and that film is 1995's Dead Man Walking which was written and directed by Tim Robbins (Mystic River). The film stars Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise) as Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who works in the slums section of New Orleans. One day she receives a letter from an inmate named Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) who is sitting on Death Row and is hoping that Helen can help him try to get off death row before his number is called. The film also stars Robert Prosky (Mrs. Doubtfire) as Hilton Barber,  Raymond J. Barry (Nothing But Trouble) as Earl Delacroix, R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) as Earl Percy, Celia Weston (Observe and Report) as Mary Beth Percy, Lois Smith (The Nice Guys) as Helen's Mother, Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead) as Chaplain Farley, Roberta Maxwell (Brokeback Mountain) as Lucille Poncelet, Jack Black (Jumanji: The Next Level) as Craig Poncelet, Jon Abrahams (Meet The Parents) as Sonny Poncelet. and Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass) as Walter Delacroix.

I know that Sean Penn is a method actor so I would love to know what he did to research the role and I wonder if he stayed in a cell to stay in character. Those are definitely some of the questions that burn through my mind while I spend time in this isolation. One thing is for sure and that is while I did like his performance in the film a lot, I thought the true MVP of the film was definitely the Oscar Winner Susan Sarandon who deservedly won the award for her role as the real life Sister Helen. She conveyed every emotion exactly the way a director would have wanted her to. You could feel that she was scared at first and by the end of the film you knew all she wanted to do was good by everyone including Matthew Poncelet who she grew very close to. The whole film, all she wants to do is get him to take full responsibility for what he had done because it would mean with the little time that he had left, she made an impact on his life. She would have gotten him to admit responsibility and in turn he grew up and finally became a man. FYI, I did not choose this movie because it's Easter weekend, if that was the case I would be watching some Bible film right now. I had always wanted to see this film and never had the chance to, but thanks to Kanopy (all you need is a library card) I took full advantage of them having it. It's beautifully shot and well acted by everyone involved in the film so I definitely suggest getting this. The end is a little hard to watch because it's very emotional and surreal, but I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.