At the Death House Door

Saw this at the Full-Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. It is a powerful indictment of the death penalty--at times maddening, at times heart-breaking.

If there is a fault in the film as a film (rather than as a polemic) it is that it can't quite decide whether it wants to be a profile of Pickett and really probe the psychological and spiritual costs of the death penalty or whether it wants to parley his testimony into a piece of anti-death penalty activism anchored on claims of wrongful execution and the investigative reporters' examination of the De Luna case

The most powerful and effective parts are comprised of Pickett's narrative, not just about the De Luna case but about how being in such a job has shaped and cost him. Perhaps because Pickett has been (and is) more of an outspoken activist since leaving his position, the film almost feels compelled to follow the narrative outside of the prison and the accounts of being "At the Death House Door" to a more overt and underlined conclusion than is necessary. It would probably be more powerful if it told Pickett's (and De Luna's) story and trusted in the power of the words and images to make the points it hammers home in the last 15-20 minutes of the film. (Maybe a slight edit would help, too.)

Still, this is picking nits at what is an effective and important piece of documentary film-making. For or against the death penalty, one has to acknowledge that Pickett has first-hand, eye-witness experience with the process and is thus uniquely situated to comment on it.

I observed Pickett on a number of occasions and never did see any hesitancy in his pro-death penalty stance. I would be much more sympathetic to his new stance, if he was not making any money out of it. There are very few pro-death penalty people who are offered stipends, etc.. Most of the money is being made by "former" supporters who now are opposed and get considerable speaking fees.

He plays VERY loose and free with the truth in this so called documentary. Almost none of the "evidence" that is being presented would ever get into a court of law anywhere, yet it is being presented a fact.

If you have never thought about the death penalty, this film will open your eyes to a very harsh reality we live in. It is an absolute must see. I have not seen a more moving film on the death penalty and I doubt I ever will. The first hand accounts of the people involved in the process is a fantastic way to understand the system that is in place and it's very real potential flaws. It's been years since I've seen it and I still think about it and remember some pets vividly. It will really stick with. I am crossing my fingers it will come to Netflix .

At Death House Door had its World Premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. This is appropriate since its focus is on the death penalty here in the Lone Star state at the Death Chamber in Huntsville, TX. The film is a powerful indictment of the Texas death penalty. It makes little pretense at neutrality and is clearly designed to argue its point-of-view rather than present a unbiased analysis of the issue. The film presents an intensely human narrative of the Texas death penalty.

It does this mostly through the eyes of Reverend Carolle Pickett who served as the Huntsville death row chaplain from 1982-95 spending the final day with 95 death penalty prisoners. He is clearly haunted by what he has witnessed on death row and has now become an advocate against the continued use of the death penalty.

The film's second parallel narrative follows the tragic case of Carlos De Luna who appears to have been executed in 1989 for a crime he didn't commit despite significant evidence that another man actually committed the murder that De Luna was accused of. The film does a better job of arguing that the Texas death penalty system is deeply flawed than it does in making a case that the death penalty is inherently wrong.

At the Death House Door is a compelling, emotional documentary that presents a strong moral and human case against the death penalty. One is certainly left to wonder if Carlos De Luna was wrongly executed and how many others like him are out there.

While this is a solid and provocative film, it seems a level below veteran documentary film maker Steve James's very best films, Hoop Dreams and Stevie. Still, this is a very good film that deserves to be widely seen as our society has begun to question how we use the death penalty in the United States in general - and in Texas in particular.