Dead Man Walking
DEAD MAN
WALKING (15)
D: Tim Robbins
Polygram/Working Title/Havoc (John Kilik,
Tim Robbins & Ruud Simmons)
USA 🇺🇸 1995
122 mins
Drama/Crime
W: Tim Robbins [based on
the book by Sister Helen Prejean]
DP: Roger Deakins
Ed: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Mus: David Robbins
Susan Sarandon (Sister Helen
Prejean), Sean Penn (Matthew Poncelet), Robert Prosky (Hilton Barber), Raymond J. Barry (Earl Delacroix), R. Lee Ermey (Clyde Percy), Celia Weston (Mary Beth
Percy), Lois Smith (Helen's Mother), Scott Wilson (Chaplain Farley), Roberta Maxwell (Lucille Poncelet)
Sean Penn plays off his bad-boy image to
deliver one of his greatest screen performances, winning his first Oscar nomination for best leading actor in the process.
He plays Matthew Poncelet, a death row
prisoner who repents his crime to a catholic nun who volunteers herself as his only companion on the final days of his sentence.
Tim Robbins as director and writer brings
a great docudrama to the screen, with solid performances from the two main stars, winning a Best Actress Oscar for Susan Sarandon. Penn is the true revelation here however, in
a performance which shaped the rest of his career.
8/10
