Last year marked another milestone for important documentaries, and Deadline ranked among the best. In tackling the emotionally raw, complex, and politically volatile issue of capital punishment, co-directors Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson approach the death penalty not from a right-or-wrong perspective, but from a legal point-of-view, asking whether our current system can prevent innocent people from being executed. Their window to this hot-button issue is the controversial decision, made in January 2003 on a nerve-wracking legal deadline by then-governor of Illinois George H. Ryan, to grant blanket clemency to all 167 people on death row in the state. Ryan's bold, compassionate, and well-reasoned decision sent shock waves throughout the country, and Deadline explores all sides of the death penalty debate, looking at the victims, killers, their families, and a handful of wrongly accused innocent men--most of them poor and/or African-American victims of systemic discrimination--whose lives were spared by Ryan's act. Structured to deliver maximum dramatic impact, Deadline, which features several legal experts (including bestselling author and lawyer Scott Turow), finds the moral center of an issue that demands our closest and most rational consideration. DVD extras include an interview with the directors and additional scenes. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (J. Shannon)
Deadline
(2004) 90 min. DVD: $29.95. Home Vision Entertainment (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 0-7800-2925-9. Volume 20, Issue 1
Deadline
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