Disturbing,provocative,suspenseful,courageous and a plethora of other adjectives won't prepare you for this story. Whatever side of the issue you may be on,this movie will speak to you. Needless to say Kevin Spacey is remarkable as are Winslet and Linney. Why is it so provocative? It reminds us of just how human we all are. Why so suspenseful? We never know for sure what is going on. Why so disturbing? The subject mattter,especially within the context of this story brings us to an understanding of our world many would like to ignore. Why so courageous? Watch!

This perhaps one of the best movies that received so many poor reviews. Audiences responded to it favorably so I'm not sure what determines if this is a good film. I liked it while it's not without it's flaws. This film is about a college professor named David Gale who is on death row to discredit the death penalty. Gale, Kevin Spacey hatches and elaborate plan to have a terminally ill woman named Constance Harraway to have herself video taped with a bag over her head handcuffed to make it look as though she has been murdered. Bitsy Bloom a journalist played by Kate Winslet is investigating the story suspecting someone else killed Harraway played by Laura Linney. It's not until the end when she views the entirety of a video tape showing Linny's character committing suicide. This comes too little too late when David Gale has already been executed by the time Winslet's character get's to the prison. whuh whuh whaaaahh :(This is a rather contrived but interesting flick. In real life the main character Gale would have to be nuts to martyr himself in such a way to teach society a lesson about the death penalty. In real life it wouldn't prove very ineffective considering our society seldom tends to ever learn a lesson from anything. Usually we keep implementing the same flawed solutions to the same problem yielding the same failed results.

This wasn't a bad movie but considering the calibre of actors involved it should have been a lot better and at times was kind of a mess. The story itself is intriguing and keeps you guessing, flipping back and forth in time as professor and anti-capital punishment activist David Gale (Kevin Spacey) tells his story from death row to journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) in the days leading up to his execution for the murder of fellow activist (Laura Linney).I managed to figure out both of the twists pretty early on which was aided in part by the bad choice of the opening scene, it was a huge spoiler and unfortunate as it took away a degree of suspense throughout the entire movie. I also could have done without Kate's over-the-top crying and wailing session, after "that" scene, it bordered on melodramatic and was just too much. 12.13

I have seen this movie many times over the last 10 years, and seeing it again tonight, being moved to heart wrenching tears at the end, I had to FINALLY make an official IMDb account and make my very first review. I am an IMDb addict, I scour it every time I watch a movie, and I always appreciate every day people's reviews. Most people say they write their first review about a movie they hate, but for me, it is this piece of genius storytelling that made me finally make the effort to register and review. The story is so completely original. The acting is nothing less than superb. Kevin is so classy and honesty so utterly compelling and believable. Laura Linney proves her commitment to the story, above and beyond where others might put their vanity first. But it is Kate Winslets performance that is the absolute clincher. Please make sure you watch this movie to the VERY end and I guarantee your heart will feel like it is ripped out of your chest. Quite easily in my top 5 movies of all time. And perhaps the best drama I have ever seen. Well done everyone involved in this film. Please do yourself a favor and watch this film, or if you have already, watch it again and again. Not often a truly compelling original storyline comes along like this.