This film struck me as one written with an anti-death penalty agenda. The point of the film is to demonstrate that a person was executed for a murder he did not commit. It fails miserably. As far as I know, rape is not usually a capital offense, however murder often is. Thus, he is really being executed for murder. The first twist is that the woman actually committed suicide, and we are supposed to think "Oh, so he really is innocent" right? Well that is wrong. Because later we find that he actually was there. Yes she taped and strangled herself, BUT he was present all along. In my book and I am 99.999% sure, in the eyes of the law, that does make you guilty. Accessory to suicide is the same as accessory to murder, and the most likely outcome is that a jury would find (as I do) that coldly standing there watching that woman struggle and die is far more heinous than an unhinged psycho acting out in his psychosis.Bottom line, he was not executed for a crime he did not commit. In fact he was executed for something less evil than what he really did. He added a $500k swindle to the deal to give money to his family.AND He led Bitsy to believe that she was responsible for his execution because she could not save him in time. Adding insult to injury, he reveals to her "Nah! I really was there the whole time. Don't tell anyone though, because I'm supposed to be innocent", like that is supposed to make her feel better.The only way she would feel better is by realizing he really did deserve to die. He watched that woman struggle, when obviously she had changed her mind and he let her die anyway, and on top of that, made Bitsy feel responsible for an innocent man's execution. She is supposed to feel better because he lied to her and used her? She will feel better because he was executed as he well should have been.The greatest tragedy of all: Read the reviews. None of the supporters here realize at all that they just proved their own point invalid. Somehow the death penalty is wrong, but murder and suicide is okay, as long as it supports the left agenda?

Intrepid female magazine reporter--and the sarcastic intern she's been forced to "babysit"--have just four days to complete the background story of a Texas college professor (and Death Row abolitionist!) who's been found guilty of murdering a colleague and is nearing his short stint on Death Row. Charles Randolph's poorly-conceived and written screenplay trots out clues and crimes like Murder For Dummies; it's all florid nonsense and exploitative shocks. There are 'key words' pretentiously dotting the scenario, a cowboy stalker used as a plot function, a rape subplot used for a ridiculous story twist, operatic symbolism, and arguments against capital punishment parlayed for an offensive doubled-edged surprise. Kate Winslet, as writer Bitsey Bloom (!), is sluggish at putting the pieces together, while Kevin Spacey (sitting smug behind the prison-glass like a junior-league Hannibal Lecter) is at his most opaque and annoying. Alan Parker's direction is crass when it is not being tasteless, while the only character worth caring about ends up dead--and that precise death (what it means and how it is achieved) sullies even she. ** from ****

Having read many of the reviews, I fail to understand how so many can view this as a bad movie. I thought this was a thought provoking movie and certainly a lot better than what a lot of people are saying about it. Outstanding performances by Kate Winlset and Kevin Spacey. The story revolves around a Professor who is on death row for the rape and murder of a colleague. Kevin Spacey plays this role excellently. Kate Winslet is a reporter who is given the chance by Spacey to tell his story. I do not wish to spoil the ending for anyone who decides to watch this movie so suffice to say, to get this movie will need to watch it from the beginning and keep track of what is happening. Some things will happen early in the movie that don't seem to be important yet the end up being critical.

Another strong entry in the somewhat eclectic collection of films by Alan Parker, "The Life of David Gale" (shame about the dull title) tries to combine a teasing whodunit murder mystery with some pungent social comment on capital punishment in the USA. For me, the two strands work well separately but unite somewhat awkwardly in the final analysis. Trying to argue against death row executions in the modern-day is all very laudable, but the point is rendered less telling by applying it to a fantastical and unbelievable plot which could only have come from a Hollywood screenwriter's pen.That's not to gainsay the plot too much. As a present-day thriller, it entertains as much as it intrigues with the twists starting to pile up before impact-fully leaving the final shot to resolve the mystery just in time for the end-credits. I didn't foresee the resolution at all and I was left afterwards with that nice feeling you get from a good suspenseful movie where you deconstruct the movie in your mind and put it back together to arrive at the ending.Yes, coincidences abound, especially how Kevin Spacey's Gale and his friend/colleague Laura Linney's respective low-points coalesce at exactly the right time, but there's no denying the ingenuity of the grandstanding plan they hatch. It is worth saying though that the first scene of Linney's character's final distress is upsetting, even as I appreciate it was doubtless carried out by a body-double. Kate Winslet's heretofore hard-bitten reporter's immediate response to it however, does justice to the shock and revuksion we fellow- viewers share with her.The three main actors are all very good in their parts, firstly Spacey as the smart-aleck super-confident college lecturer undone by his human frailties, beginning with a penchant for young girls that he would get to revisit in "American Beauty". Winslet's role is as the sounding-board, reacting to events as the viewer's proxy. Quite where she gets the Sherlock-like detective skills to unravel the murder mystery I'll let pass as dramatic licence while Linney portrays her part as Gale's soul-mate and fellow-crusader with the required understated sympathy.Director Parker handles his cast well and cleverly and subtly unfolds his tale with due respect for cinematic conventions of the thriller genre. I still think more people would leave the movie discussing the clever ending than the anti-capital punishment message, but blame that more on the writer than the director.This is still a taut and thoughtful thriller, well acted and directed and which hold the viewer's interest right to the very end.