Product Details

• Actors: Wanda Jean Allen, Jesse Jackson, David Presson
• Directors: Liz Garbus
• Producers: Liz Garbus, Chandra Simon, Julie Gaither, Nancy Abraham, Rory Kennedy
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Video Group
• DVD Release Date: November 29, 2005
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BB154I
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,269 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Execution of Wanda Jean" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

In 2001 Wanda Jean Allen was given a lethal injection by the state of Oklahoma, making her the first black woman to be executed in America in fifty years. In THE EXECUTION OF WANDA JEAN, award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus (The Farm: Angola, USA; Girlhood) continues her investigations into the American criminal justice system with the compelling story of convicted murderess Wanda Jean Allen. Allen was sentenced to death in 1989 after shooting her lover, Gloria Leathers, whom she met in prison while serving time for another killing. This quietly powerful film chronicles the tragically methodical way the state of Oklahoma proceeds to execute Wanda, a woman with a low IQ bordering on retardation, despite the deperate efforts of her family, legal team, and mental health and anti-capital punishment advocates. As pleas for clemency and legal maneuvers are gradually exhausted, there’s a chilling inevitability to Wanda’s plight, which she bears with a rare strength and introspection. THE EXECUTION OF WANDA JEAN is an intimate account of a uniquely American story. Its power lies in its portrait of simple human dignity in the face of inevitable death. DVD Features: Filmmaker Biography; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply Compelling, April 24, 2008

By 

Nasty Bob (Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Execution of Wanda Jean (DVD)

I won't go into the details of this incredibly engrossing documentary but I did want to express my own kudos. This was certainly a film I just could not take my eyes off of, and though the mere thought of developing an affection and sympathy towards a confessed killer may incense some (as it should)there does come a time (If You are truly a Believer in God) when forgiveness must win out. As engaging as it is, this is not the type of film you will pull out regularly to watch again and again. But at the same time You will be glad it is in your collection. For documentary film making this is a true masterpiece. I believe Wanda Jean came to terms with God, and developed immoveable and deep Faith. I also believe that her mental state should have spared her life. But if there is a positive to be found it is that, through the tragic circumstances she found herself in that led to her earthly demise, she may have found eternal life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking documentary on a touchy subject, December 27, 2009

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Execution of Wanda Jean (DVD)

THE EXECUTION OF WANDA JEAN is well-made and worth seeing. Clearly the filmmaker had no agenda or axe to grind. All sides are fairly presented; viewers aren't led or told what to think, and that's admirable.

Capital punishment is one of those polarizing topics that few have no opinion on. Since others here have expressed their views, so will I.

I believe in the death penalty and that "an eye for an eye" is an instruction to men and not the province solely of the Almighty. I also believe in "Instant Karma," meaning the wrongs a person does in THIS life will be paid for in THIS life, and sooner than one would imagine. In the case of Miss Allen, that karma took over a decade but it finally got her, and justifiably.

A deciding factor to my mind that Wanda Jean Allen earned an execution day is the overwhelming evidence of premeditation. Besides a similar prior murder, a greeting card that Wanda gave the victim contained in her own hand, "If you try to leave me, I'll kill you." It matters not if this is the threat of a genius or someone with just enough intelligence to hold down a medical-related job, as was the case with Miss Allen. Her prediction became tragic reality after a chase that ended at a police station parking lot. Gloria Leathers was sent to an early grave by a point-blank bullet to the belly, and Wanda Jean's fate was sealed by her own hand.

11 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Documentary I've ever seen., December 13, 2005

By 

Sandra Wiley "Anti-Capitol Punishment" (Up North) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Execution of Wanda Jean (DVD)

This documentary is was well put together using all original characters and the original seen during each time frame. It was very sad; yet, educational. It reveals the controversial over lesbian relationships as well as racial capitol punishment. I found this documentary interesting because I am anti-capitol punishment because I believe that rather a person should die or not should be a decision made by God and not by man. Executing someone for murder will not justify judgment if it's an act of will. Besides, executing someone for murder does not bring the victim back and it doesn't always bring closure to the victim family if the executioner is given an easy death by lethal injection when their loved one died a whole lot worst. I believe that dying is too easy anyhow for convicted murderers; therefore, they need to suffer in prison for life for what they did.

Wanda Jean Allen is no different from other murderers in God's eye, but she was diagnosed with having a mental condition, she did apologize and confess to her Lord and the victims family for her negligence and only wanted her sentence commuted to life in prison. If Charles Manson can have his sentence commuted from death to life in prison for all the victims he murdered, why can't Wanda Jean Allen and other African American death row inmates have their life spared?

Lets not forget the victims who also loss their lives as a result of Wanda's negligence, but even the victims family don't believe in an "eye for and eye," and did not support the decision for Wands Jean Allen to be sentence to death, so where was the justice in all of this? If the wages of sin equals death, then death will come to them instead of them going to the death chamber.