The Exonerated

Intelligent, mostly well acted filming of the stage play, as 6 people exonerated from death row tell their true stories, mostly as monologues, against a black background.

A powerful argument against the death penalty, it feels a bit stuck between embracing it's theatricality of approach, and trying to work as a more cinematic piece both in the way its shot, the occasional awkward 'flashbacks' and in the 'size' of the performances, which range from understated and small to quite theatrical and presentational.

But whatever questions one might have about the stylistic choices, there's no question that these are powerful, important true stories in that every rarer thing, a dramatized American film that head on addresses an issue with passion and intelligence.

The truth is tough, the truth must be faced, and the truth is what THE EXONERATED is all about. A project started by writers Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen in 2000 when, in response to a lecture on capital punishment, the couple was moved by the telephone voice of one of the many innocent people on death row who had been falsely convicted of murders they did not in truth commit. This lead to a commitment on the part of Blank and Jensen to interview six such imprisoned people who had spent years of their lives on Death Row only to be eventually exonerated and released. The result of this research was a play that not only was on Broadway but also traveled the country. Now director Bob Balaban has transformed this play into one of the most searingly powerful dramas about our penal system that has ever been produced.

Each of the six condemned people on death row is portrayed by a gifted actor and the script is taken 100% from interviews and testimony and court records of these exonerated victims. They each tell their story of the incident that resulted in their wrongful arrest and conviction, their experience while confined to Death Row, their thoughts of living in threat of execution, and their manner of dealing with the world once released. These different people are portrayed by Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Aidan Quinn, and David Brown, Jr. Adding some significant reenacted dialogue from spouses and police and jury are such fine actors as Lee Turgesen, Bobby Cannavale, Laurence Luckinbill with a host of others in minor roles.

At the end of the film each of these actors who have been creating the characters are faded into the actual exonerated victims who speak directly to us about their response. The overwhelming message is one against capital punishment, racism, against railroading innocent people into the prison system without the fairness of well-guided appeals, against all the flaws that besiege our penal system. The effect is shattering and staggering. This is NOT a docudrama, but a sensitively written, produced, directed and acted film. It is a film that every citizen of the world should see. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

This film places the audience as observer to personal interviews with ex-cons whose death row convictions were overturned, therefore they have been released from prison. They describe the circumstances leading to arrest and conviction, and their states of life and mind before they were arrested. It is a biting commentary on the tragic state of racial and socioeconomic policeable inequality and abuse, which then highlights severe failures of the US legal system. It is maddening in its portrayal of police prejudice and ineptitude. There is no riveting plot, instead there is riveting dialog which makes you sit up and listen - then makes you think again about the death penalty. Less involving than traditional story-teller movies like Dead Man Walking or The Life of David Gale, it is no-less impactful and thought- provoking. The stories are tragic. It is a stage-production which is well brought to the big screen, and deserves the larger exposure derived from theatrical/DVD distribution. A fantastic piece of cinematic art.

Unlike some people who have reviewed this title, I found nothing surprising about "The Exonerated." It's an indictment against the death penalty and also for our justice system. In light of some recent jury verdicts, it does seem that there are a few things very goofed up in our system, which is supposed to be the greatest. If it is the greatest, that's pretty sad.

Exonerated tells the stories of six innocent people who received the death penalty. The dialogue comes from the words of the real-life accused. The characters are played by: Brian Dennehy, Susan Sarandon, Aiden Quinn, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, with peripheral characters played by Bobby Cannavale, Dennis Burkley, and Chris Bauer, among others. Directed by Bob Balaban, the material was originally a play.

The shocking thing here is, after these people were exonerated, how long it took them to be released. And to think, these are the stories of six people - how many more people have stories like this, and how many died on death row, despite their innocence. It's a staggering thought, and their stories are compelling and sad, stories of wasted years and frustration.

One of the major problems is that many of these people were interrogated for hours and hours and did not ask for a lawyer. And the police are something else in regard to this civil right - if a person asks for an attorney in order to avoid interrogation for hours upon hours, it's assumed he or she is guilty. The public assumes it (well why would you need a lawyer if you didn't have anything to hide?) and the police assume it. First of all, when the police say 'anything you say can and will be used against you,' they mean it. If you talk without an attorney, your words will be twisted to convict you. Secondly, why would someone want to be interrogated for 16 hours or until they are so beaten down and exhausted that they confess?

At the end of the film, we are introduced to the real people. Human beings, victims of police in a hurry to make a case, bad lawyering or no lawyering, bad juries, or being the wrong color. It's a sobering thought.

I knew before this film that the justice system in the U.S. is far from perfect. and having watched it only reinforced that in my mind. As far as I know, everything that is said in the film is from a transcript of some kind. They are actual words, not inventions of a filmmaker with an agenda. While the filmmaker probably does have an agenda, that doesn't make the ideas and content of the film any less valid.

For me, this film could stand as the entire argument against the death penalty. Punishments are supposed to be about justice. Justice is not a system where six innocent people can be sentenced to die because of purposeful deceit or accidental human error. In reality there have been many more people exonerated from death row, but that doesn't make the argument any stronger. It should only take one death of an innocent to convince any rational person that this punishment is not morally sound.