While it's unlikely to change any minds on the subject of capital punishment, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus' disturbing examination of the execution of Wanda Jean Allen, whose borderline retardation and cognitive dysfunction were not presented to the jury that sentenced her to death in 1988 for the murder of her lover, effectively raises serious questions regarding whether or not justice was served. Allen comes across here as blissfully unable to grasp the enormity of her situation, and viewers may believe, if they want, that this didn't entitle her to the bleak clemency her lawyers requested (life in prison without possibility of parole); or that being black and homosexual in deeply conservative Oklahoma did not expose Allen to insurmountable prejudice; or that the victim's family's wish that Allen be spared should have no bearing on the possible commutation of the sentence. What is irrefutable here is that the only people punished here by Allen's execution are her family. Allen's distressing cheeriness in the face of death—by lethal injection—is evidence enough that she neither has any idea of what's going on nor is suffering for her crime. But the anguish of her traumatized mother and siblings is heartbreaking, and this is the angle we rarely see: state-sanctioned killing only creates one more grieving family. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Johanson)
The Execution of Wanda Jean
(2002) 88 min. DVD: $26.95. Docurama (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 0-7670-8598-1. Volume 21, Issue 1
The Execution of Wanda Jean
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