WriteMyEssay.com

...MAN WALKING" By Tracy Gregory, - October 1998 Crime and punishment have never been examined in more harrowing detail than in Tim Robbins' cinematic masterpiece, Dead Man Walking. It is clearly an eloquent statement against capital punishment, but it is, more importantly, an indictment against a social and political system that does not equitably represent all of its citizens as dictated by the Christian ideal, "Do unto others." Matthew Poncelet is initially not depicted as a sympathetic figure. He has been sentenced to death following his conviction for raping and murdering two teenage-girls. While on Death Row, Poncelet steadfastly maintains his innocence, and in desperation, pens a letter to Sister Helen Prejean. Poncelet appeals to the nun by telling her that, true, he was at the crime scene when the murders were committed, but he was not the murderer. Instead, he casts the blame on society by claiming that had he not been impoverished, he could have afforded suitable legal representation, he would not have been convicted in the first place. Clearly, a horrific crime...