By: Jenna Moloney

Dead Man Walking is a film about a man living and walking with death staring him right in the face. Matthew Poncelet shot a young man in the head and brutally raped the man’s girlfriend, allowing his accomplice to murder her soon after. Despite having to live with his crimes and his bitter, cold heart, he meets Sister Helen. Sister Helen teaches him to love even when he thought he was incapable of doing so. I refer to Dead Man Walking as a film rather than as a movie because it makes a strong statement about love and death. It suggests that even the most animalistic of people can be forgiven and loved, and that it does not make sense to “(kill) people to say that killing people’s wrong.” (Sister Helen) These main ideas are achieved through frequent parallel editing, and contrasting colors.

Parallel editing is perhaps the most prominent technique used in this film. This type of editing is used mostly with flashbacks, but the focus switches from flashbacks to real life so often for entire scenes to suggest that they relate to the current time. This may mean that a character is thinking about the flashback, referring to it, or it is contrasting what is happening at the current time. Some flashbacks show bad quality video, such as scenes where people are looking directly at the camera and waving, giving a sinister feel and suggesting that the event must have taken place a very long time ago. When the cuts switch from Sister Helen in the car to these people waving, the audience may conclude that she is thinking back to her training and is contemplating how Jesus would handle the situation she has found herself in. It may also foreshadow how eventually Sister Helen is going to have to say goodbye to someone she loves. Other scenes containing parallel editing include flashbacks to Poncelet’s crimes and cuts of Poncelet at the current point in time. The two scenes contrast greatly in their settings, colors, and overall mood. The flashbacks are intensely dark; the green of the grass is dull and the trees are almost black. They are filled with fear. The cuts taking place at the current time still show faded colors, but are brighter nonetheless. They are quieter and calmer. Robbins, the director of the film, does a great job at juxtaposing scenes with very different feels to emphasize the mood of each and get a reaction from the audience.

Along with the flashbacks containing contrasting colors, other settings contrast in the same way. Perhaps the most noticeable scene with these colors is the court scene. When Sister Helen walks outside to talk to the families of the victims, the trees are very green.

It symbolizes that hope lies beyond the walls of the court building.

When Sister Helen steps back into the court room, the walls are a faded green that is so dull it does not even appear to be the same color as the trees outside. This physically portrays the lack of hope in Poncelet’s present and future. The different shades of green essentially show where is bad and where is good. Certain colors are also found on positive and negative characters in the film. White and brown are always found on the clothes of Sister Helen and the priest. These colors are also the colors of their hair, cars, and walls of their home. Light pink is also common on the clothes of Sister Helen and Matthew Poncelet’s mother. It is also the color of the curtains in the Poncelet household and flowers in the windowsill. White, brown, and light pink are commonly found amongst the positive characters of the film. Amongst the negative characters, blue is frequently found. Matthew’s prison suit is blue and his eyes are also noticeably blue. Even the “criminal minds”-like show on the prison television is tinted a bright blue. In particular scenes at the beginning of the film taking place in the prison, the color is so commonly found that a viewer may feel like the overall picture is drowning in blue just as the prison is. Poncelet, during these scenes, is drowning in the thought and consequences of his past life decisions.

One weakness of this film is the appearance of a famous, usually comedic character who has merely two lines and plays a very serious role. Although my point of view is distorted because his first comedic role was released in 2000 and this film was released in 1995, most people now view Jack Black as a comedy-movie-only type of actor. His appearance for only a few minutes in Dead Man Walking caught me off guard and took me out of the mood of the movie each time I saw him. But when this movie was released, Jack Black was just another unknown actor.

“I just wanna say I think killin’ is wrong, no matter who does it, whether it’s me or y’all or your government.” –Matthew Poncelet, played by Sean Penn

If Robbins’ intent was to make his audience cry, he certainly fulfilled it. In my opinion, this film was a tear-jerker. However, it only had this effect because I do not believe in the death penalty. Killing people to prove the wrongness of killing is a paradox that I will never be able to wrap my head around. I am also a Catholic, and the image of Poncelet strapped on the bed with his arms out asking for forgiveness right before his death was almost exactly the image of Jesus Christ on the Cross. As Jesus asked forgiveness from His Father right before he took his final breath, Poncelet asked forgiveness from one of the victims’ families right before his. As Jesus told the people killing him that He forgave them, Poncelet told the other family that he hoped his death brought them some relief. I do not believe the death penalty is morally right, and this film only strengthened my opinion. I, too, think killin’ is wrong.