Product Details

• Actors: Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo
• Directors: Bob Balaban
• Writers: Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen
• Producers: Jessica Blank, Bob Balaban, Erik Jensen, Greg Schultz, Harit Allan Buchman
• Format: 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: Monterey Video
• DVD Release Date: March 7, 2006
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BYW6RA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,489 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Exonerated" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A stellar cast is the chief appeal of The Exonerated, director Bob Balaban's film adaptation of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's true-life stage play. Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Aidan Quinn, and Delroy Lindo portray five of the six people (the sixth is played by newcomer David Brown, Jr.) who were convicted of crimes they didn't commit and spent years on various death rows before their cases were re-examined and new evidence led to their being set free. Performing a script pieced together from actual court transcripts, depositions, letters, and interviews, each of the six, some of them accompanied by a spouse, recounts his or her story from beginning (crime, arrest, and conviction) to end (i.e., exculpation and readjustment to the outside world, where they must "practice to be human again"). Some of the material is pretty shocking, reflecting outrageously inept and/or prejudicial work on the part of law enforcement, legal representatives, and/or court officials; for instance, the lawyer for Kerry Max Cook (Quinn), who was locked up for over 20 years on a patently bogus rape-murder conviction, was a former district attorney who had twice prosecuted him in the past. Other characters are introduced via occasional re-enactments of police interrogations, trial testimony, and such, but for the most part it's the six principals who dominate the screen. That's a mixed blessing; although placing the actors against black, blank backdrops and bathing them in holy light is certainly dramatic, the result is somewhat static and, not surprisingly, very theatrical (The Exonerated had over 600 off-Broadway performances, in addition to national tours). Nevertheless, its impact is considerable--especially when the real "exonerees" appear onscreen at the end. Extra features include bios and interviews with the writers and actors. --Sam Graham

Product Description

Starring: Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, Susan Sarandon, David Brown Jr.

Written By: Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Directed By: Bob Balaban

Sixteen years. Imagine everything you could do with sixteen years.

Imagine everything you did the last sixteen years.

Now take it all away.

Sunny Jacobs was convicted and sentenced to death for a crime she did not commit. Sixteen years was just the beginning of what was taken from Sunny Jacobs.

Twenty-nine Academy Award nominations, eighty-seven Golden Globe nominations, one hundred and twelve EMMY nominations: such is the incredible array of actors who have lent their considerable talents and passion to The Exonerated. As a play, awarded the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards, it was acclaimed in major cities across America.

Now as a film, the undeniable power of the true stories of six exonerated survivors of death row will engage your emotion, incite your passion, and envelop you in their search for the lost small pieces of dignity and the lives so unceremoniously interrupted.

True stories in their own words. Stories you will never forget.

Seen on Court TV

DVD Features:
Actor's soundbites
From the writers
Bios & Background

Amazing Grace performed by Lyle Lovett

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Staggering Film That Should Be Required Viewing, March 14, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Exonerated (DVD)

The truth is tough, the truth must be faced, and the truth is what THE EXONERATED is all about. A project started by writers Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen in 2000 when, in response to a lecture on capital punishment, the couple was moved by the telephone voice of one of the many innocent people on death row who had been falsely convicted of murders they did not in truth commit. This lead to a commitment on the part of Blank and Jensen to interview six such imprisoned people who had spent years of their lives on Death Row only to be eventually exonerated and released. The result of this research was a play that not only was on Broadway but also traveled the country. Now director Bob Balaban has transformed this play into one of the most seeringly powerful dramas about our penal system that has ever been produced.

Each of the six condemned people on death row is portrayed by a gifted actor and the script is taken 100% from interviews and testimony and court records of these exonerated victims. They each tell their story of the incident that resulted in their wrongful arrest and conviction, their experience while confined to Death Row, their thoughts of living in threat of execution, and their manner of dealing with the world once released. These different people are portrayed by Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Aidan Quinn, and David Brown, Jr. Adding some significant reenacted dialogue from spouses and police and jury are such fine actors as Lee Turgesen, Bobby Cannavale, Laurence Luckinbill with a host of others in minor roles.

At the end of the film each of these actors who have been creating the characters are faded into the actual exonerated victims who speak directly to us about their response. The overwhelming message is one against capital punishment, racism, against railroading innocent people into the prison system without the fairness of well-guided appeals, against all the flaws that besiege our penal system. The effect is shattering and staggering. This is NOT a docudrama, but a sensitively written, produced, directed and acted film. It is a film that every citizen of the world should see. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 06

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating saga, presenting its unforgettable stories in the words of the people who survived them, January 8, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Exonerated (DVD)

The Exonerated is the DVD edition of the award-winning play about the true stories of six exonerated survivors of death row - each wrongfully accused of and sentenced for a crime they did not commit, and deprived of their freedom for years on end. Featuring a sterling cast including Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and Brian Dennehy, The Exonerated is a captivating saga, presenting its unforgettable stories in the words of the people who survived them. Highly recommended. 90 minutes, color.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Would be good as an episode of American Justice on TV .. but not a movie, November 14, 2010

By 

M. A Spitzer "mas017" (Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Exonerated (DVD)

As an episode of American Justice with Bill Curtis on TV, this would have proven very good.

After all, one of the worst things any of us can imagine is being wrongly imprisoned for something we really did not do.

Documentaries that make us aware of this problem and how to improve accuracy of convictions with new technology is a good service.

So why was this bad as a movie ?

Perhaps it is our knowledge of the activism that people like Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover are often involved in that makes this feel less like a serious portrayal of these stories and more like the audience is being preached at.

As an episode of Bill Curtis - American Justice, it would have been good.

As a movie staged to look and feel like the stage play it was based on, this simply did not work as a movie.