The Life of David Gale Starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet Directed by Alan Parker Rated R for violent images, nudity, language and sexuality ** out of **** Stars, Movie Grade: C

Theatrical Release: February 21, 2003
Running time: 131 minutes

by Kevin Lang

Directed by Alan Parker, who also directed "Mississippi Burning" (1988) and most recently "Angela's Ashes" (1999), "The Life of David Gale" starred Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, and Kate Winslet. Spacey played Dr. David Gale, a Texas college professor who was convicted of raping and murdering his fellow death penalty abolitionist, Constance (Laura Linney). While on death row, Gale told his story to Bitsey Bloom, a reporter known for keeping her sources confidential. She had recently spent seven days in jail for withholding information from police to help them convict a child molester. The film, which seemed overly long, did manage to hold my interest, but only to discover Constance's true fate, and in the end, this was one of the more disappointing parts of the film.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that this movie was set in Texas. The state performs more executions than any other state in the country. Gale and Constance resided there, and they were part of a national organization known as Death Watch. They had devoted part of their lives to trying to save the lives of such individuals as murders, rapists, and cop killers. We watched as David Gale debated the Governor on a political talk show, but was stumped when the Governor asked him to cite one incident in his state where an innocent man was put to death.

Since the capital punishment system in Texas had been flawless up until that point, Death Watch was unable to get the courts to step in and stop any of the scheduled executions. Constance, who was dying of leukemia, was desperate to prove that the legal system was not foolproof. If she could prove this, then she would instill doubt in the minds of the lawmakers, which could possibly lead to a revision or total eradication of the death penalty in Texas. How she managed to do this in the film completely damaged any point that the movie was trying to make, and it left me sickened to watch and realize the choices of these troubled characters.

I wish that I could address this further, but doing so would give away the mystery behind the film's disturbing conclusion. Produced in part by Nicholas Cage, "The Life of David Gale" was another Hollywood film that inserted a-list actors into a movie that attempted to address a controversial political issue. Maybe not as forthright as "John Q" or "The Contender" with its political alignment, "The Life of David Gale" still offered enough for me to easily realize which end of the political spectrum that this film was coming from. For example, Gale made sure we knew that 70 percent of all serial killers vote republican.

Sometimes I think films like "The Life of David Gale," if anything, act to harm certain political movements more than help them. The filmmakers take controversial subjects, and they force their own one-sided viewpoints upon us, rather than offering us a balanced perspective. This can also lead to a certain amount of discomfort in the audience as they try to decipher the intent behind what they are seeing. This is especially true of individuals who at all oppose the viewpoint presented in the film. In the case of "The Life of David Gale" however, the political message itself was put to death as a result of a twisted conclusion that tried its best to convince us of its sanity.

"The Life of David Gale" Review written February 20, 2003, CTF.

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