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Is it worth $10? Yes
I will admit that the beginning of Werner Herzog’s death penalty documentary “Into the Abyss” had me worried. It starts with a prologue where we meet former death row chaplain Reverend Richard Lopez, who had been there for many inmates’ final moments. During the interview, Lopez breaks down and cries over the memories of his experience, and even says that God is compassionate and merciful and this is against His wishes. One can hear that and wonder if Lopez ever read the Old Testament, but that’s another story.
From there we meet Michael James Perry, a death row inmate who is to be executed by the state of Texas in eight days for a triple homicide committed nine years earlier. Perry seems to be excited to be in front of the camera, talking to Herzog. It’s his last chance to tell his story and vent his frustration about a system that will not listen to his pleas of innocence. Herzog is off camera, but you can hear his voice. At one point he tells Perry that even though he may not like him, Perry is a human being, and Herzog doesn’t believe that the state should take his life.
This made me cringe. I sat through way too many Michael Moore propaganda films disguised as “documentaries” to tolerate yet another holier than thou elitist pushing his agenda on me. I thought for sure that Herzog was headed down that path.
Then a great thing happened. The next scene was with one of the police officers on the scene, Lt. Damon Hall. He stands where the murders took place and provides a blow by blow recount of the events that transpired. Intercut with his interview is video footage from the actual murder scene in 2001, which shows blood splattered walls, corpses dumped in woods, and an unbaked batch of cookies that one of the victims was making when she was gunned down.
After this comes interviews with family members of the victims as well as residents of the town who knew the perpetrators—Perry and another young man named Jason Burkett, both of whom were roughly 19 years old at the time of the murders. The victims’ families discuss the horror of that day, and the residents provide color commentary on the types of out of control young men Perry and Burkett were.
By this point, all of my cringing fears were completely gone. This was not another propaganda film about the evils of the death penalty. This was a well-balanced, serious-minded examination of a death penalty case from all angles. Perry, Burkett, the police, and the victims’ families all get ample time in front of the camera to tell their stories. Herzog, with the exception of asking questions to keep his interviewees talking, stays out of the way. There is no flashy camera work or Michael Moore-esque voice over narration where the opinion of the filmmaker is inserted. Herzog lets each person speak for his or herself. Amazingly, the simple act of letting people speak and playing it straightforward creates a very stirring and moving story, regardless of which side of the death penalty debate you are on. I believe this was Herzog’s intention, and if so he succeeded masterfully.
That isn’t to say his bias didn’t perhaps get in the way with his choices of interviewees from the prison system to provide first hand accounts. In addition to the chaplain in the beginning of the film, Herzog interviews a man named Fred Allen, who is the former captain of a death house team. Allen describes his duty as captain in the death house, and the effect it had on him to the point that he came to be so against the death penalty that it forced him to retire early at the risk of losing his pension.
Whatever Herzog’s reasons may have been for choosing him, Allen’s interview is very honest and has a great impact, as all of the interviews do in “Into the Abyss.” My only gripe with that particular interview is that a clock can be seen on the wall behind Allen and every time there is a cut you can see the hands of the clock move back and forth, showing the way his words were edited together. It’s a telling peek behind the curtain of the way that films are edited. Given that this film does such a great job of letting people bare their souls and showing you into their innermost thoughts and feelings, I could have done without noticing the mechanics of the filmmaking.
But minor gripes aside, and regardless of your own personal pro or con stance on the death penalty, “Into the Abyss” is a documentary worth seeing. It will move you like very few fictional films can.
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Anthony
said:
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... I hope this is a good movie, my girlfriend got a pair of tickets already to see this movie!   |
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