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Special Features
- Audio Commentary with Alan Parker
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
- The Making of David Gale
- The music of David Gale
- Death in Texas
- Poster Concepts
Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Customer Reviews
Kevin Spacey fleshes out the title role as a believable philosophy professor who speaks against capital punishment in the state of Texas which just happens to be the place where more executions are performed than any other state. He is not without problems: alcohol, a drunken sexual relationship with a former student, and an awkward but deeply significant relationship with Constance (Laura Linney) who later when found 'murdered and raped' on videotape results in the arrest and conviction of Spacey's Gale, now facing death on death row. Laura Linney is most credible as a driven anti-death penalty activist for reasons we discover are beyond the range of civil rights reponsibilty. The third part of this triangle is the reporter brought in to investigate Gale's claim to innocence in the last four days of his wait on death row. Kate Winslet captures all the parameters of this contemporary woman with seamless detail. To tell more of the story would be injurious to the unfolding of this worthwhile drama.
For a 2 hour plus movie THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE manages to hold our interest, encouraging us as viewers to keep our invetigatory eyes and ears open and struggle along with Winslet and her cohort to finally put together all the pieces of the puzzle. Others have complained that the clues are in every scene: isn't that true of most crime investigations? I see no fault in placing all the information in front of the audience to test the observation of the viewer as much as the skill of the screenwriter in resolving a case with the important message of this film. Alan Parker uses a lot of visual tricks in addressing the facts of the crime and even makes interesting parallels in the background music (the fairly obvious metaphor of TURANDOT arias by the presuicidal Liu appear repeatedly).
In the end this story is on a par with DEAD MAN WALKING as far as a significant plea for anti-Capital Punishment voices. See it for yourself. The skills of actors like Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, and Kate Winslet pledging belief in this script can't be ignored.
me, i didn't see the ending coming, but i do think it made perfect sense. many objected that spacey and linney undermined their own cause by their "stunt". i don't agree. first, the full story wasn't meant to be disclosed to the public, only to the reporter. second, and more important, the ending was not done solely to prove a point, as many have suggested. in fact, linney was already terminally ill and spacey's fortunes had fallen to the point where he had little to live for. the so-called "stunt" was really a way to make their lives - and their inevitable deaths - more meaningful. making a point about capital punishment was only one part of it, the public dimension. there were very real private considerations as well.
many also commented that the ending didn't make sense. i think it does. spacey knows that he's used winslet to convey his public AND private message (to his son). it's to assuage his guilt that he sends the tape at the end. how does he know that winslet won't tell all? because she's proven that she can be trusted to respect the confidentiality of her sources: if she won't betray "kiddy porn scum", why would she betray an innocent man?
but even if the public doesn't know the whole truth, won't spacey still be an "anti-captial punishment nuthead" (to paraphrase one reviewer) in winslet's eyes? maybe. and only she would know. but judging from her reaction at the end, i'd say, if anything, she felt great compassion and understanding for spacey. compassion for his suffering. understanding of his actions. and i don't know what the reviewer was watching who said spacey had a "dull" look in his eyes when he gazed in the camera in the last scene, but i can't recall the last time i saw a look of such profound sadness. it was a very moving moment.
there are many other objections that don't stand up under scrutiny. for example, one reviewer commented that the linchpin of the story was the tv confrontation between spacey and the governor of texas where spacey supposedly wasn't able to name a single innocent man who had been mistakenly killed. the reviewer couldn't believe spacey didn't have a comeback since there apparently have been cases where just such a travesty has happened. leaving aside the question of whether this is the "linchpin", if you listen closely to this scene, the question wasn't "name one man who has been mistakenly killed?"; it was "name one man OUT OF THE 131 WHO HAVE BEEN PUT TO DEATH IN TEXAS DURING MY TENURE who was innocent?". there's a big difference between these two questions. the gov was answering for his state's record, under his watch. he's saying "show me where I'VE made a mistake. if you can do that, then maybe i'll reconsider MY STATE'S policy." this makes sense. why should the gov of texas answer for other jurisdictions or administrations? he should, and only can, answer for his own actions. which is exactly what he does.
another reviewer objected that it was obvious what spacey was up to when he hired an "incompetent" lawyer to defend him. "the film is too predictable", he cried. actually, the lawyer wasn't incompetent at all. if he wasn't effective, it was BY DESIGN: he was in on the scheme from the very start. this is revealed near the end when we see the relation between the cowboy and the lawyer, especially the transfer of money. counsel "botched" the defense because that's what spacey wanted.
so maybe the plot wasn't so "predictable" after all? there are other objections like these that also fall apart on closer examination. i could go through them one by one, but i don't have the time or space to do that. MY only objection is that the film does occasionally go over-the-top in making its points. it does get a little preachy. this is more an aesthetic and artistic flaw, however, than an ideological or polemical one - more how the message is conveyed than what the message is.
good film. definitely worth a rental, and maybe even a purchase if you're a big spacey fan. to the naysayers i'll just say: watch the film again, and then tell me if you still think it's "too predictable" or flawed.
Keving Spacey is great and Kate Winslett convincingly drops her British accent in a tale of an anti-death penalty advocate who is awaiting execution for the murder of one of his fellow advocates. Winslett's character (Bitsy) is a reporter who has the assignment of getting Gale's story before he dies and proving his innocence. As the Gale's story unfolds one scene early on is very important. That is where Gale is in a televised debate with the governer of Texas over the merits of the death penalty. The debate turns into a shouting match with Gale cornering the governer into stating that if Gale could name one "innocent" person who received the death penalty, that he would sign an order to abolish the penalty in Texas. As the movie winds towards a climatic ending we begin to realize that it is more important that Bitsy can prove Gale's innocence, than save him from leathal injunction.
The movie is full of plot-twists and incredible suspense with a few scenes that will startle you.
