David Gale's Life is a 2003 American drama directed by Alan Parker (in his last film as director) and written by Charles Randolph. The film is an international joint production, between the United States, Germany and Britain.
Kevin Spacey plays an eponymous character, a college professor and an old activist against the death penalty who was sentenced to death for killing the opponent of the death penalty of his neighbor. Kate Winslet and co-star Laura Linney.
Video The Life of David Gale
Plot
David Gale is a professor in death prison in Texas. With only a few days until his execution, his lawyer negotiated a half-million-dollar fee to tell his story to Bitsey Bloom, a journalist from a major news magazine. He has a reputation for keeping secrets and protecting his sources. He tells him how he ended up in the death penalty, revealed through a series of long flashbacks.
Gale is the head of the department of philosophy at the University of Austin and an active member of DeathWatch, an advocacy group that campaigns against the death penalty. At the graduation party, he met Berlin, an interesting graduate student who had been expelled from school. When Gale is drunk at the party, he teases her and they have sex. He then wrongly accuses Gale of rape. The next day, he lost a television debate with the Governor of Texas when he could not prove a man proven innocent was executed during the governor's term. After losing the debate, Gale was arrested and charged with rape. While the allegations of rape against Gale were later canceled, the damage had already occurred, and his family, marriage, career and university reputation were all ruined.
Constance Harraway, a DeathWatch activist, was Gale's close friend who comforted him after his life was a mess, and the couple had sex. However, the next day, Harraway was found raped and killed, strangled by a plastic bag stuck on top of his head. An autopsy revealed that he had been forced to swallow the key handcuffs used to hold him, a psychological torture technique used by the Securitaries under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceau? Escu, the Gale and Harraway have protested. Physical evidence at the scene pointed to Gale, who was convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death.
At the moment, Bloom investigates the case between her visits with Gale. He came to believe that the real evidence against Gale is not growing. He was followed several times in his car by Dusty Wright, a suspected lover and colleague of Harraway, whom he suspected was the real killer. Wright slips evidence to Bloom that shows Gale has been framed, implying that the real killer records the crime. Bloom pursued this clue until he found a recording that revealed that Harraway, who had terminal leukemia, had committed an elaborate suicide made to look like a murder. Wright was seen on the videotape, acting as his accomplice, implying that they framed Gale as part of a plan to discredit the death penalty by conspiring to execute innocent people, and then releasing evidence of real circumstances.
After Bloom and his assistant found this evidence, only a few hours left until Gale's execution schedule. He tried to give the tape to the authorities in time to stop the execution. He arrived at the Huntsville Unit just as the warden announced that the execution had been done. The tape was later released, causing the media and political uproar over the execution of innocent people. Later, Wright received the fees approved by Bloom magazine to pay for the interview, and sent it to his ex-wife Gale in Spain, along with a postcard from Berlin in San Francisco apologizing, all admitting that the alleged rape that derailed Gale's life and his career was wrong. His ex-wife looked confused, knowing Gale was telling the truth and that he effectively stole his son from him.
Later, videotapes labeled "Off the Record" were sent to Bloom. The tape picks up at the point where Wright insists that Harraway is dead. This continues, showing him stepping aside to allow Gale, also attending and partying to suicide, to caress his lover's body, deliberately leaving his fingerprint on a plastic bag in the process. He then stood up and ended the recording, leaving Bloom stunned by the truth that the couple was deliberately sacrificing themselves to discredit the death penalty.
Maps The Life of David Gale
Cast
- Kevin Spacey as David Gale
- Kate Winslet as Bitsey Bloom
- Laura Linney as Constance Harraway
- Gabriel Mann as Zack Stemmons
- Rhona Partner as Berlin
- Leon Rippy as Braxton Belyeu
- Matt Craven as Dusty Wright
- Jim Beaver as Duke Grover
- Melissa McCarthy as Nico
Production
David Gale's life was shot in many places, including Huntsville, Texas, Sam Houston State University, University of Texas at Austin, Garrison Hall, KLRU-TV, Metro Espresso Bar (now Cafe Medici), 2222 Guadalupe St., Cain and Abel's Bar in Austin, Gumbo's Louisiana Style Cafe and PlaÃÆ'§a Reial, Barcelona.
Reception
David Gale's life received a very negative review from critics and ranked 19% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 156 reviews with an average score of 4.2 out of 10. The consensus states "Instead of offering a convincing argument against the death penalty, this irrational and convoluted thriller attracts viewers' attention to its message. "The film also has a score of 31 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 36 reviews that indicate 'Generally unfavorable reviews'.
The Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert gave a rare zero-star movie and stated in his review "I believe filmmakers believe their films are contrary to the death penalty I believe it supports it and hopes to discredit the opponents of the penalty as imposter... Spacey and Parker are respectable men... The last shot made me want to throw something onto the screen - maybe Spacey and Parker. "However, co-host Ebert Richard Roeper, did not hesitate to give this movie a" thumbs up ".
Soundtrack
Soundtrack (composed by Alex and Jake Parker) has been used in various movie trailers, especially the songs "The Life of David Gale" and "Almost Martyrs". Scores have been used in trailers for the World Trade Center, Munich, In The Valley , Milk , The Artist and The Iron Lady .
Also see
- The Man Who Dared (1946)
- Outside The Reasonable Doubt (1956)
- Abhilasha (1983)
- Virumaandi (2004)
- Execution is wrong
- Purposes Project
Reference
External links
- The Life of David Gale on IMDb
- The Life of David Gale at AllMovie
- David Gale's Life in Box Office Mojo
- The Life of David Gale at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Life of David Gale at Metacritic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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