A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
In the 1940s South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.
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I have never been bias, but this movie made me ashamed to be a white man. Tears are falling from my eyes as I write this. Jefferson was as good a man as anyone could have been. He was referred to in court as a hog. That would have been humiliating to anyone, and I believe the man who said it it meant for it to be. This bothered Jrfferson more than the death penalty that had been put on him.MR. Wiggins, who was more or less employed by the lady who raised Jefferson to try and instill some dignity into him before he was executed, had his work cut out for him, but in the end he did seem to get through to Jefferson that he was much more than a hog.He did finally have to meet his maker, but he did it with an undaunted dignity. Thank you for letting me express my opinion.
This movie brought me to tears. It was honest, upright and well executed. It plunks us right in the middle of a serious situation, a situation where there are can hardy be winners. The absolute good thing about this movie is that it's not pointing a finger; it just shows the facts. There are no supernatural interferences, except maybe the realization of a friendship, the establishment of kinship and the acceptance of reality and how to cope with it in order to change it for the better.Great movie, it gets 8 out of 10 from me. Recommended viewing.
a great american movie. typical american justice system. typical american mentality. typical american prejudice. typical american ignorance. typical american emotions. this is the "all american" movie of the year.
This movie is a great work, and hopefully has made it's way into our history education here in the states. The only negative I can find concerning this movie, is that such events occur in our world. Like life, the happy ending is all to often, only a barely tolerable out come to an injustice. Most times it's not even that. I vote a full board on this one, from cast and crew, to content and style