In everyday society, we are faced with diverse issues that force us to make a decision. Whether or not our decisions are right or wrong. In the movie “Dead Man Walking”, directed by Tim Robbins, he exemplifies the following actions throughout the film. Faith and doubt is a recurring theme in the course of the film. Where we see Christians, in essence, questioning their faith. We also notice a contradiction between the Christian bible and the Hebrew bible or as most people have come to know it as the Old and the New Testament. Conflicting themes have been argued about the Old and New Testament throughout the centuries. Also, humility is a key aspect to the film. The director discreetly implies it at the end of the film so we can make a connection with the main characters. In Tim Robbins “Dead Man Walking” he entails religious ideals to allow the viewer to recognize both sides of evil.
The lesser of good evil arises in the film. Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) has been on death row for six years and now his time has come. He has taken the lives of two young teenagers and the families want revenge. The families are for the death penalty and that is what they have been waiting for, for Matthew Poncelet. In Dead Man Walking, there is a scene where the nun, Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) is outside of the prison with protestors and the camera angle focuses o the protestors sign. It says “an eye for an eye (Matthew 5:38-39), a life for a life”. The quote comes form the Old Testament also known as the Hebrew bible. The New Testament states “whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also”(Luke 6:29). The director is trying to show us how the Old Testament and the New Testament contradict each other yet; they have a relation beca...
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...ng everything he will leave behind. He is no longer thinking about himself instead he is worrying about the families he has hurt and his own family that he is leaving behind. However, now that it is his time, he has found love and the true meaning behind it.
To conclude, the movie is filled with hatred, evil, faith, doubt, love and so on. While watching the movie, we see how the director has involved transcendence, metaphors, and striking images that the viewer is drawn to. Helen had something to accomplish with Matthew, which is the need for redemption and the sacraments of the Christian church. We notice the religious people and there actions throughout the movie. It shows us how different faith is to each individual and the way they see the Old and New Testament. Surprisingly, many follow the Old Testament but do not chare any thoughts with the New Testament.
Throughout centuries, humans have expressed different perspectives toward a single idea. The subject of religion invites challenging discussions from skeptical minds because religion is diversely interpreted based on personal faith. The authoress sets her novel in a fictional town, Cold Sassy, where religion plays a predominant role in people’s lives. Through Will Tweedy’s narration she explores the religious opinions of the town’s most prominent citizen Rucker Blakeslee, Will’s grandpa. Although Blakeslee spent his whole life in a religiously conservative town, he has a radical approach toward religious concepts such as predestination, suicide, funerals, faith, and God’s will, thus forcing him to challenge the traditional views of organized religion.
Dead Man Walking depicts the story of death row inmate Matthew Poncelet, a man who was convicted of brutally raping, stabbing, and shooting teenagers Hope Percy and Walter Delacroix. His punishment for these monstrosities was to be death by lethal injection. Right before his execution date, Poncelet wrote to Sister Helen Prejean for help and guidance. Believing no one should be
There are two different kinds of righteousness that are explained through scripture; passive righteousness and active righteousness. In the film Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen, a nun, comforts Matthew, a convicted murderer and rapist, and the tension between her comforting Matthew over the families loss of their children grows. Sister Helen opposes the death penalty, whereas the Apostle Paul, in Romans 13, did not object to the death penalty. The Apostle Paul teaches that we must live by grace with each other, but Paul also clearly states that we are to obey and respect human government. Passive righteousness and active righteousness are examined in Dead Man Walking.
In the post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, a man and his son travel south through the ruins and ash of their demolished home. Crippled by fear, starvation, and loneliness, the man and his son struggle to maintain physical, mental, and emotion health. Throughout the novel, the characters remain unnamed, with little description of their physical appearance. The man shares all of his beliefs, memories, qualms, and feelings through his thoughts and conversations with the boy. The man has many compelling convictions referencing The Holy Bible and his unwavering belief in God. However, these accounts often contradict each other. Throughout the novel, the existence of God is indefinite. The ambiguity of the novel relates to the ambiguity of God’s existence; the characters are left in the dark about what is to come throughout their journey, just as they are left to wonder whether God’s light is illuminated or diminished among the wreckage of their forgotten world.
a clear love for his family. But during the war he changed his attitude and personality.
...ng the underlying theme that drives the story and the movie, propels the reader and viewer to rekindle the desire to hope above all else because hope is all one has in devastating as well as dire needs. Hope overcomes despair, permits others to see your “inner light” to develop integrity which connects with honesty and trust. Hope is the inspiration to continue to live regardless of the circumstances. Red may have narrated; “Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” But, Andy Dufresne states it best: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
"Dead Man Walking" is a film in which a convicted killer is on death row who eventually meets and forms a bond with a nun. While watching the film many questions were brought up, the main one being whether Matthew Poncelet, who is partially responsible for the death of a high school couple and rape of the female victim, should face the death penalty. The film ultimately answers the question for us with him being denied in the appeal court and is eventually executed. Now while the film killing Matthew is justified, I wonder to myself was his death ethically justifiable? Since ethics has many ways of approaching a situation such as this I would like to only apply ethical conventionalism to this scenario.
his future life is finally result of what he is today, he grew up to become a dedicated veteran, a
After discussing this movie in class it all makes sense. All the details that I missed throughout the movie I saw when we started discussing it. I saw most of the religious themes, some like the pale horse evaded me. This was a great movie and one that I would recommend to anyone. The way that it is written and the way that is was played out is amazing. I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface with the meanings behind this movie.
An Eye for an Eye was written by Stephen Nathanson. Mr. Nathanson, like many, is against the death penalty. Mr. Nathanson believes that the death penalty sends the wrong messages. He says that by enforcing the death penalty we “reinforce the conviction that only defensive violence is justifiable.” He also states that we must, “express our respect for the dignity of all human beings, even those guilty of murder.”
As I see it the character of Eve represents myself and the dangers of what I could become if I should permit myself to continue these practices. I believe that the character of Eve is intended to show viewers of the audience, who re-semble her, a mirror of themselves, so they can see how they look from the out-side. It is advantageous to do this through the medium of a film because it al-lows the viewer to see the point from a more objective view then may be pro-vided through other means. I think that this movie is one which will have a ex-tremely powerful effect on such people. It made me realize that this way of con-trolling others is not a natural part of life in general though it has become a natural part of my life.
The movie, Jesus of Nazareth, showed the Paschal Mystery in a secular and spiritual way, that everyone could understand. It went into great depth on almost every topic in the Gospels and historically with people like Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas. The Paschal Mystery is a very important to the Catholic religion as it is what differentiates us from other religions, especially Judaism. The fact that God joined us in human form, in the Incarnation, is amazing and shows the character of God, that He is loving and forgiving. Although the death of Jesus was horrible, it gave us our salvation and saved us from sin.
of his survival, as well as his dog's too. Anything that the man and his
The theme of religion is discussed on page 67 “Our policeman… do they need?” The passage demonstrates how people use the policeman to show his faithfulness towards religion when he dropped the ground and prayed. They are shocked by the prisoners escaping and automatically compare it to another religious story of Paul and Capernaum prison. When they try to blame the escape on rain and thunder they cannot validate their point other than referring to it as a religious act. They assume Matigari is so holy and god is protecting him. The influence of religion is so strong that they are not looking at further proof because they just assume that it is a miracle.
... to lie. In doing so, he is rewarded by receiving a promotion at his job. It also shows that faith in God is more important than a person's position. This movie does an amazing job showing the importance of a God filled and God run life. It stresses the importance of faith, of making the right decision, and choosing to honor God, regardless of the consequences and repercussions that could occur.