Dead Man Walking, gave me an in depth look at Matthew Poncelot, an inmate on death row. Director, Tim Robbins, examines the life of Poncelot during his time on death row and goes into depth with many of the relationships he develops. Sister Helen Prejean is a nun who is asked to be a spiritual advisor to guide Poncelot through his last days. Throughout the entire movie, Sister Helen was caught feeling very emotional trying to balance helping Matthew Poncelot as well as both families affected by the crime he was accused of committing. The beginning of the movie was full of tension between Matthew and Sister Helen, he was not really understanding the idea of having someone be there for him for his death. As time passes, their relationship grows and you begin to see a legitimate bond between the two of them form. She teaches him life lessons and really helps him accept what is coming and learning to live with the fact that death is inevitable. Matthew is not truly prepared for what is happening when he first meets Helen. I was able to identify this because he was very laid back and calm even as death was breathing down his throat. It wasn’t until the day of his execution when I really saw Poncelot break down and realize that he was dying. As part of the Catholic Church, Sister Helen has never done anything like this in her life and many people around this situation were surprised that she even accepted to console Matthew for his death. They were surprised not only because she was a Nun, but also because she was a woman. She faced the struggles of hurt family members taking emotion out on her as well as faced the devastation of Matthew’s mother. Helen’s journey was a great one for the movie to follow because of how open minded she was towards everyone. Both of the families at first showed distaste towards Helen because she was trying to help the man that killed their children. However, the father of the boy that was killed ended up being able to face Helen and have the courage to talk and hear her side rather than just turn and give her the cold shoulder. Mr. Delacroix was able to come to terms with the situation and had many conversations with Helen and then made an appearance at Matthew’s funeral. Regardless, he still felt anger but had accepted what his life had become. My overall take on the movie was that it appealed to my emotion, I found myself at many points sympathizing with Matthew and actually tearing up at certain points as well. The most prevalent literary element was character development between Poncelot and Sister Helen from the beginning of the movie all the way to end.
Throughout the movie, it becomes clear to the audience that the relationship between Sister Helen and Poncelot will be an important piece of understanding the underlying plot of the film. Generally, many spiritual advisors were male and non-Catholic, Sister Helen contradicts these very ideals and chooses to help and support a man who needs it like never before. The beginning of their relationship is rather slow and boring because he is acting like he will not be killed. This attitude agitates Helen and makes her have to become dominant over Matthew in order to serve her duty to him. Sister Helen is the character who shows unconditional love to everyone she meets, she truly has a spot in her heart for anyone. For example, after the appeal meeting, Sister Helen goes to the houses of the children murdered that night to try and see if she can help condole them at all. One of the families is Catholic and was disgusted that she would do such a thing for Poncelot, however the father eventually accepted the fact that as a nun it was an obligation more or less to help someone in need.
As his death approaches, Poncelot still acts with little regard to society and others not fully realizing that he will die by lethal injection. As days pass, his family comes in and this is the moment that Matthew realizes that this is the last time he will ever see them. That scene where he is shackled to a chair as his family sits on the opposite side of the room trying to make small talk with him is extremely powerful because it shows how one horrible mistake can impact not only the families who lost a child, but also the family of the criminal. As his family walks out of that visiting room, his mom breaks down and begins to cry because her son is going to be killed. Poncelot begins to cry a little himself after seeing his mother completely devastated as he looks through the glass doors into the parking lot. Later in a meeting with Helen, he tells her to check in on his mom occasionally to make sure she is doing okay. Helen agrees to this because earlier in the movie she went by Matthew’s house to see if Mrs. Poncelot would testify in the appeal. Mrs. Poncelot agreed to testify however while on the stand, she broke down and cried and was walked out of the hearing. At the end of the appeal she is standing in the back hallway and hears the judge say that the execution will continue as scheduled. When she hears this news, she cries in this hallway because it is when she realizes her son will actually be killed. As a viewer, the appeal went as expected, however, Mrs. Poncelot may have been more hopeful tha the rest of us. The biggest lie told in the movie is that Poncelot says time and time again that he did not kill the kids. He said he was there but did not take part, however in a visit with Helen he opens up and bawls because the lie detector test was inconclusive and then he admits that he indeed did take part in the killings of the two innocent kids.
As the death approaches, Helen wants Matthew to accept the consequences of his actions and she tells him that god can forgive any sin. Hopefully this leaves Matthew with optimism as he would be strapped to that table short thereafter. Helen really wants Matthew to be able to come to terms with his actions because he is not the most religious person. As he lays on the table you can see the fear in his eyes as they strap down his legs and arms so he cannot escape. In his last moments, he apologizes for his actions to the other families present for his execution, and hopes that his death offers peace and closure to their kid’s death. As a viewer it is shocking to see a man who once acted like he was king of the world, seeing him turn into a powerless individual who would be sorry for his actions and cry as he dies. Another powerful moment in this scene is when Sister Helen reaches her arm out to the glass window to offer he final support to Matthew as they inject his body with lethal fluids.
A “prima facie” obligation holds under normal circumstances all other things being equal, “a duty proper”. These obligations offer ways to better explain rules, while allowing for certain exceptions to those rules. It is to do what is morally right, even if that means telling a lie. In order to lie, you must have defeasible rules, for example if keeping a promise puts peoples lives in danger, then you have both a prima facie obligation to keep that promise, but also an obligation to not keep the promise because it puts people in danger. When Sister Helen received the letter in the mail and accepted the request, she had a prima facie obligation to go help Poncelot. However, as the story progressed, she learned that he had lied to her this whole time by being so adamant about not killing the kids. Matthew ended up telling the truth and admitted to killing them, at this moment, Helen could have gotten up and left because she was lied to and betrayed by someone she thought she could trust. Her prima facie obligation was still to help, but I can see defeasible ruling coming into play because Poncelot was not entirely honest to her.
Having previously seen movies involving death row, this one started very slowly. You get a deeper understanding of the characters and it allows you to connect your emotions to the movie. As someone who expected this movie to be very dark and ominous, the ending left me with hope for the future, obviously not for Matthew, but for his family as well as the victims families. He at least made it look very truthful when he was in tears on the table regretting his actions and even hoping that his death would serve as justice towards these parents affected. Sister Helen was able to get through to him because he eventually told her he was guilty and even though he lied to her for the whole time prior to that one meeting after the results of the lie detector test, he finally was honest about what really happened that night. It brought Sister Helen to tears, learning about his actions that night. She did cry when he told her he was guilty, but I want to think that a portion of her tears were due to the fact that he was being honest for once in his life. This just goes to show that with enough work with someone, you can make a difference in their life and give them hope, even when it seems all is lost.