Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
See the film before the reviewers barricade its effect, July 23, 2003
THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is, I believe, a much better film than many fellow reviewers would indicate. Perhaps they are influenced by the reviews that came out in the media at the time of the film's theatrical release, perhaps the Editorial slam on the Product Page by Bret Fetzer taints opinion. I would urge you to see and/or buy this DVD, keep an open mind, and witness the effect on your own emotional response.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.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
you'll probably feel cheated, and maybe insulted, October 5, 2003
This would have been a boring propaganda film except for some frenzied camera work and many clues and events designed SOLELY to keep you from turning off the propaganda. In fact, the whole plot line with the "journalist racing against time to find out the truth" is nothing more than a red herring to keep you watching. Surprisingly, the putative "real" theme (propaganda against the death penalty), is ALSO a red herring. Therefore, most people will feel cheated after being deceived by this movie.The real theme that permeates every minute of this movie is that there are two types of people in this world, and the death penalty is merely a litmus test to distinguish them. People who oppose the death penalty are intelligent, educated, and caring people who know how to have fun, and those who disagree (Republicans) are stupid mean racists. Examples of the people the movie targets are Texans, George Bush, people with southern accents, and even people who wear cowboy hats and drive pickup trucks. Therefore, many people will be insulted by this movie. If you want to see this film because it opposes the death penalty, you may still feel cheated and insulted because it contains nothing you will find new, thought provoking, or an example of how to be persuasive. However, the movie IS persuasive. It is masterful in its consistent but subtle demonization of Republicans, Southerners, etc.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
All who are for capital punishment ought to be hanged!, April 9, 2003
My review title is a joke I once heard, but it is a much less convoluted oxymoron than this movie! I give it three stars for its suspense through most of the plot, which makes it never boring, and for some compelling acting. But through twists that repeatedly undermine the story you thought you were buying into, the film ultimately becomes self-destructive. I've seen it said in various reviews that this movie promotes an anti- death penalty agenda. Well, it sure does seem to much of the way through. But in the end I found myself seriously asking if this film might really be a joke that those reviewers never caught on to. I can really see supporters of capital punishment getting the last laugh here, having a field day in the end, however much they might have been put out with what they perceived along the way as propoganda. After mulling over this movie for a while, I grew to feel a little pride in my never having been a strong zealot one way or another on the capital punishment issue. For the film certainly shows how zealots for a cause can become fanatics who contradict the very principles that attracted them to the cause in the first place. And that amply happens to death penalty opponents in this case. If death penalty advocates want to make a case that opponents are not morally grounded and will sell out their very principles in an effort to promote them, the opponents of the death penalty in this movie have played right into the hands of such criticism. The supposed heroes of this movie think they've won a definitive victory that can't be turned against them. But instead they have done the ultimate in turning of their own cause on its head, and give the other side more ammunition than ever. I'll get no more specific, to avoid spoilers. There is suspense enough here to keep your interest. Just don't expect it to make coherent sense in the end.
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