Plot

This documentary on the death penalty and state sponsored killing looks at the social, political and moral impact of these methods of death. Warning: contains very graphic and disturbing images.

Related Links

• IMDb Page

Customer Comments

• Reviewer: anonymous on 18-Aug-2006

  The original and only non fictional look at executions worldwide with uncensored footage - a case against capital punishment or a perverted dip into reality.

• Reviewer: Rev. Felix the Black Cat on 24-Oct-2006

  Don't expect a thorough, complete documentary on capital punishment. Some people have criticized this film for that reason -- they were apparently expecting something else. Instead, this film is more narrowly focused on destroying the myth that there could be such a thing as a "humane" execution, pointing out that "humane" measures are often more for the executioners' benefit than the condemned.
  
  Yes, there is some fairly gruesome footage here, but not really near the level of the _Faces of Death_ series that this often gets compared to, which is fitting, since the purpose of this film is not to thrill gorehounds. This film's purpose is to show people what we're really doing when we execute people, and that's important to know if we're going to decide, as a society, whether we really want to be doing this or not, just like it's important for people to see the realities of war so they can make up their minds about it honestly, rather than just blindly swallowing the myths of patriotism and glory.
  
  I think the cover of the North American pressed edition is inappropriate for this reason, as it seems to be trying to sell this film as being in the same vein as _Faces of Death_, etc., which it really isn't. The cover of the British edition is much more appropriate, so that's the one I downloaded and printed out to use as my front cover (since the EZTakes cover is just a plain one -- perhaps the people at EZTakes also think the North American cover is inappropriate?)
  
  My only complaints are that it could've been fleshed out a bit with some more context, even given its narrow focus. Also, the transfer is a little pixelated in a few spots -- not many, but it's still annoying, especially since there's plenty of room on the disc to use lower compression. (However, given the nature of the sources, you shouldn't expect super-high quality images, anyway, given the historical and live, on-the-spot nature of much of the footage used.) Also, the state-by-state data on capital punishment in the extras leaves out my home state of Minnesota for some reason! (It's probably just an oversight, but it makes me wonder if they overlooked other things.)
  
  A couple other things to keep in mind is that this was made in Britain in 1995, so it has a more British / international perspective, so some "current" things in the film may be a little out of date now.

• Reviewer: anonymous on 26-Jun-2008

  what a great movie. very disturbing and powerful. educational and depraved. everybody should see this movie.
  th last execution was the most disturbing! ugghhh

Additional Information

• Country: United Kingdom
• Language: English
• Format: NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (standard TV)
• Color: Color / B&W
• Sound: 2 channel