May. 06, 2003 - 6:02 pm
this was a very contraversial film that came out in 2001 and got discussed a lot. i had been wanting to see it because i wanted to know actually how good Halle Berry's performance was. she became the first black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress after much complaining had been done to the Academy over the years for lack of black winners. many nominations, but few winners they said. so did she and Denzel deserve to win that year? in my opinion, Denzel maybe not so much. Halle, yeah, she really did i think.
this film is about a racist prison guard and his son who are working up to their latest execution on death row. at the same time, the wife of the man to be executed is struggling in about every way possible. she can't make her house payments, is losing her job, and her car is about to die on her. after the prison guard's family has a terrible tragedy, he starts to rethink his life. he seems to be tied to the wife of the man he helped execute and they begin to form a relationship because they need to be with each other so desperately.
it's got great acting obviously, but it also conveys and evokes some very very intese emotions. it destroys you then slowly builds you back up and makes you strong again. this is a well made film. the mise-en-scene or placement of items in relationship to the camera is also beautifully done in this film. for instance, when Latecia goes to pawn her wedding ring, she places the ring on the pawnbroker's counter and below the ring are rows and rows of guns within the glass case. it's breathtaking and poignant.
i really didn't know what to expect going into this one, but i feel like i learned something from it. i think i could stand to watch this one quite a few times.