Celluloid Death: Cinematic Depictions of Capital Punishment

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Law Faculty Scholarly Articles Law Faculty Publications Summer 1996 Celluloid Death: Cinematic Depictions of Capital Punishment Roberta M. Harding University of Kentucky College of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Film and Media Studies Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Repository Citation Harding, Roberta M., "Celluloid Death: Cinematic Depictions of Capital Punishment" (1996). Law Faculty Scholarly Articles. 563. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/563 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Faculty Publications at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Faculty Scholarly Articles by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Celluloid Death: Cinematic Depictions of Capital Punishment Notes/Citation Information Robert M. Harding, Celluloid Death: Cinematic Depictions of Capital Punishment, 30 U.S.F. L. Rev. 1167 (1996). This article is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/563 Celluloid Death: Cinematic Depictions of Capital Punishment By ROBERTA M. HARDING* FILMMAKING HAS EXISTED since the late 1890s. 1 Capital punishment has existed even longer.2 With more than 3,000 individuals lan- guishing on the nation's death rows3 and more than 300 executions occurring since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976,4 capital punishment has become one of modem society's most controversial issues. The cinematic world has not been immune from this debate. Consequently, it is not surprising that the worlds of celluloid and capital punishment have crossed paths as filmmakers scramble to explore this explosive and com- plex issue in a "user-friendly" medium. Due to the diversity of filmmaking techniques, the examination of capital punishment issues is accomplished in a variety of ways. Some cine- 5 matic explorations of capital punishment adopt the documentary form. * Associate Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law. J.D., Harvard University, 1986; B.S., University of San Francisco, 1981. 1 am grateful to my staff assistant, Sandy Emerson, for her assistance on this project. 1. See generally JACK C. ELLIS, A HISTORY OF FILM (1979) (discussing the origins and history of filmmaking). 2. See generally Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) (reinstating the right of the states to use capital punishment in limited circumstances); MICHEL FOUCAULT, DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH (1977) (deconstructing the history of capital punishment in France and other European nations); V.A.C. GATRELL, THE HANGING TREE (1994) (describing the use of capital punishment in 17th and 18th century England); THE CODE OF HAMMURABI (ancient code permitting the imposition of the death penalty). Capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976, after a four-year hiatus that resulted from the Supreme Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). Gregg, 428 U.S. at 207. In Furman, the Court concluded that the death penalty was arbitrarily and capri- ciously administered, and thus violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. Furman, 408 U.S. at 257. Presently, capital punishment is allowed in 40 jurisdictions: 38 states, the federal government, and the United States military. DEATH Row, U.S.A. (NAACP Legal Defense Fund Winter 1995), at I [hereinafter DEATH Row, U.S.A.]. 3. See DEATH Row U.S.A., supra note 2, at 1. 4. Id. 5. The documentary format arguably could be considered the preferred method when film is selected as the method to impart messages, ideas, and information about capital punishment. This method could be deemed more effective, as it allows the filmmaker to impress upon the viewer that what is being seen is the "truth." As a result, the presentation of the topic is more UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 30 Erroll Morris' film The Thin Blue Line6 is a well-known example of this method of presentation. The Execution ProtocoF also depicts how capital punishment issues can be explored through the documentary format. Another common cinematic mode is the dramatic presentation. This style can be subdivided into two categories: the made for television/cable movie and the "Hollywoodesque" production. Last Light,8 which will be discussed in detail, illustrates how the made for television filmmaking format can be used to examine capital punishment issues. Dead Man Walking9 is a superior example of how capital punishment issues are conveyed by the "big screen production" technique.' 0 objective and possibly makes it more acceptable to viewers because the facilitator, the filmmaker, is neutral, simply a vessel through which the information passes to the receptor, the audience. However, the two films that I have selected to examine are of the dramatic presentation genre. While this format may not be perceived as portraying the facts as objectively as the documentary format, it can attain similar goals by resorting to other filmmaking techniques. For example, the movie DEAD MAN WALKING (Polygram 1996) is based on the autobiography HELEN PREJEAN, DEAD MAN WALKING (1994). Since the film is an adaptation it could be perceived as imparting cinemagraphic images that rank relatively high on the objective truth scale because the source for the contents of the cinematic presentation is what the book's author, Sister Helen Prejean, experienced. Thus, the adaptation's dramatic presentation format could be a stronger means of communicating information on an issue because the filmmaker can simultaneously pres- ent the "truth" and interject some amount of artistic license to make the venture more appealing to the masses. LAST LIGHT (Showtime 1993), on the other hand, is a fictionalized account of one condemned inmate's life on Death Row and his execution. This could be viewed as a less effective means of initiating a discussion on capital punishment issues because it lacks the "objective truth" component. 6. THE THIN BLUE LINE (BFlI/Third Floor 1988). 7. THE EXECUTION PROTOCOL (Worldview Pictures 1992). The film explores capital punishment issues by examining the lives of condemned inmates at Missouri's Potosi Correctional Center. The documentary was produced by Stephen Trombley. Mr. Trombley also authored a book documenting his experience at Potosi and his interviews with individuals associated with the process of state-mandated killing. See generally STEPHEN TROMBLEY, THE EXECUTION PROTOCOL (1992). 8. LAST LIGHT, supra note 5. The film was first shown on cable television in 1993 and marks the directorial debut of Kiefer Sutherland, who also plays the chief protagonist Denver Bayliss. Forest Whitaker, Clancy Brown, Lynne Mood, and Amanda Plummer are cast members. Live! From Death Row (FOX television broadcast, Apr. 3, 1992), is a made-for-television movie about capital punishment starring Joanna Cassidy and Bruce Davison. 9. DEAD MAN WALKING, supra note 5. 10. REFLECTIONS IN THE DARK (New Horizons 1995) and LAST DANCE (Touchstone Pictures 1996) are also in the "big screen" category. In Reflections in the Dark, Mimi Rogers portrays Regina, a condemned woman waiting to be executed that night. The film explores some of the gender issues associated with capital punishment. Sharon Stone is the star of Last Dance, another film examining capital punishment from the perspective of a woman awaiting her execution. Both films are unusual because the central characters are condemned women. Presently, there are 49 women on the nation's death rows, and they account for approximately 1.61% of the national death row population. See DEATH Row U.S.A., supra note 2, at 1. Summer 19961 ONE MOVIE NO LAWYER SHOULD MISS I. Introduction This essay will examine how two filmmakers used the cinema to investigate death penalty issues through the films Dead Man Walking and Last Light. These films were selected because of their similarities: capital punishment is the central theme of both films; the presence of a strong principal character who is the condemned inmate; the utilization of a character who undergoes a spiritual transformation due to interaction with the condemned inmate; the decision to have this character facilitate the humani- zation of the condemned individual; and the additional role this character plays as the audiences' conscience. There are, however, differences in the manner the two films address capital punishment that will also be discussed. The ultimate goal of this essay is to demonstrate how film is used to investigate a specific legal issue, capital punishment, by identifying, discussing, and comparing the structure of each film, and finally the message each film conveys about the controversial topic of capital punishment. II. The Casting Call Both films have a primary protagonist and an important secondary character. Denver Bayliss, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is the condemned inmate and chief protagonist in Last Light. Forest Whitaker portrays the film's crucial secondary protagonist. Whitaker plays Officer Fred Whit- more, a correctional officer assigned to work on Death Row where Denver is housed. In Dead Man Walking, Matthew Poncelot,II portrayed by actor Sean Penn, is the condemned inmate around whom the story centers. The author of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean, is portrayed by the 2 actress Susan Sarandon.' 11. The character Matthew Poncelot is a composite of the two condemned inmates featured in Sister Helen Prejean's book. The first of the two men is Elmo Patrick Sonnier. He and his brother Eddie were convicted of kidnapping and murdering a young couple. Eddie Sonnier, and not Pat Sonnier, shot the couple. Nonetheless, only Pat Sonnier received a death sentence. Matthew Poncelot also has many characteristics of Robert Lee Willie, the second condemned inmate featured in Sister Helen's book.

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