Statistics do not lie, even if they can be manipulated.  44% of the executions in the United States take place in Texas.  During his term as governor, George W. Bush was infamous for his oblivious, almost yeehaw attitude towards capital punishment.  Almost like he wore it as a badge that his state had not only a murderous, bloody reputation, but also the ethics of the whole process were questionable at best.  It is fitting and intentional I think, that The Life of David Gale is set in Texas.  The film takes an intentional jab at Bush and his politics, but wavers and teeters on actually making a solid statement.  The film drones at points, but is deep and insightful at others.  It becomes a compelling contradiction, reflective of the whole capital punishment debate.  Unfortunately the film falls badly at the end, becoming a mess of indecisive contradiction.  In my eyes, it didn’t ruin the movie, but it certainly diminished the power of its message and its story, and wasted a decent idea.

This is a story that while it may lack believability or possibility, is definitely rooted in irony and impassioned political belief.  David Gale is a University of Austin philosophy professor who also volunteers for a capital punishment opposition organization called Deathwatch.  Gale is intelligent, articulate, but far from perfect.  He drinks to an excess and loses his will power one night when a student confronts him at a mixer.  This leads to a criminal conviction and starts the ball of the story rolling.  As the film opens, we see a young woman running, we hope that by the end, we’ll understand why.  She is Bitsey Bloom, a tabloid reporter who lands an interview with Gale after he is convicted of the murder of a co-worker and (here comes the ironic platform that the movie is built on) is sentenced to die.  While this little twist could have made for a powerful movie, Parker sometimes gets lost in the anxiety of it all.  This story could have benefited from some trimming of the fat and a tidier wrap up to it all.  In any movie that builds itself around a political stance, there is bound to be conversation afterwards.  In a movie with this type of ending, even more conversation is bound to occur.  The conclusion requires some thought, which may or may not be worth your time and energy.  I got it as much as I could, but couldn’t help feeling a bit cheated and like I’d been taken for a ride on the wavering politics of the writer and director.

There is a delicate balance that must be taken when using a back-story to lay foundation and attempt to generate an emotion for its main protagonist.  By remaining subtle and patient (such as Dead Man Walking), you can elicit the right touch of empathy.  But excess and overkill creates ambivalence and frustration and tends to cause backlash amongst the viewers.  This film passes subtlety, wanders into overkill several times, but never completely immerses itself in it.  This is usually Parker’s style, using visual and emotion over actual story progression (The Wall, Evita, The Commitments).  Apparently story structure tends to throw Parker a bit off of his game, and he does seem a bit out of sort during certain points of the film.  Certain dialogue between Bitsey and the intern, prolonged focus on Gale’s story as its recounted, and a clumsy resolution show that Parker is still a bit rusty as a storyteller, but his point is driven home nonetheless.

Spacey’s performance is the glue that keeps the wheels on this film, as it usually is.  He shows various aspects of his acting repertoire, from intellectual, to vulnerable, to lecherous, to sympathetic and pained.  Linney doesn’t really get to stretch her now obvious ability to intensify and embody a role, while Winslet fills in a spot that any actress could have done.  Still, carried by Spacey, the performances are acceptable enough in light of the problems with the story and the ending. 

If you want to incite a room full of people, usually bringing up the topic of capital punishment will do it.  People’s views of the subject go to the extremes, from solid support to solid opposition, It is an argument that transcends social and financial classes and is bound to create a rift in even the most peaceful and intellectual crowds.  The Life of David Gale is Alan Parker’s philosophical, but slightly overblown and laborious perspective on this controversial argument.  While the story touches on the deeper issues, it lags and becomes typical in bits of its execution.  Forget about your own personal opinion on the matter, the film cant make up its own mind how it feels about the subject, so neither should you.   It is yet another case where a more compacted effort, with a slightly different focus, could have been a more powerful film.  But since the film was released in this time year, which is usually a cinematic graveyard for the studios to parade out their less than confident efforts, it shows me that this may not have been the best that this story could have been told.  

Agree? Disagree, Questions? Comments?

Tell Me Here