癲狂院 Vixen Owl Cigar..。o○

An Incarnation of Socrates...


To Each His Own - On My All-Time Favorites List !!
In this movie, Kevin Spacey, a philosophy professor, has been wrongly convicted on 1st degree murder in Texas of all places, and will be executed.. A reporter that comes to visit him in prison, thinks she is getting a story about how a tenured, successful, happy professor who is so anti-death penalty is getting what he so fears and looks down upon..Apparently, Spacey didn't really commit the haneous act against his friend, as many think.....

What I the most, being that Im a philosophy major are the symbolisms and comparisons to Socrates and taking an unjust punishment prove a point.
Socrates was unjustly convicted of 'corrupting the youth ' but wanted to quietly take his punishment of drinking hemlock.
He did so, because he believed strongly in civil disobedience, which would anger people enough to get rid of an unjust and flawed system.
That is the same thing that Spacey did.
He is quietly taking a punishment he doesn't deserve, to show people how unreliable the death penalty is.

This movie mostly consists of Spacey reflecting back to all the things that lead up to where he is now.
Of most truth, is when he is fired, for supposedly raping a girl.
He informs his boss that the charges were dropped, to which his boss said, "They'll just say you had a good lawyer. You aren't politically correct professor. Welcome to the club. "
That truly speaks of the 'open mindness ' in our educational system today.
If what a professor believes is not hip, they will be shunned in most ways.

I did the debate the professor, Spacey had with the governor of Texas, who of course was pro-capital punishment.
The governor keeps reading these quotes from famous people, thinking they will somehow justify his argument.
He reads a supposedly good quote, to which Spacey said, "Yeah that's what Hitler thought to. "
The extreme eye contact here foreshadows what Spacey will do to prove how capital punishment is unreliable.
Spacey humiliating him on television with his good arguments, really ticks the governor off, but he tries to keep his cool.
Another thing I like about The Life of David Gale , was the mysterious cowboy who kept stalking the reporters.
He goes so far as to break into their hotel room and leave a gruesome tape showing the murder of Spacey's friend, which was wrongly pinned on Spacey.

【Laura Linney】Life of David Gale【Kevin Spacey】
What's Eating David Gale?
If you are a die hard (and I mean that literally ) advocate of the death penalty then this is probably not your film.
I think you might find it interesting though.
If you have some questions or ambiguity about it, then this movie may help you.
It should be something that will at least get your attention, and make you think. How could that be bad ?

I promise, I won't give it away !!
However, what I will do is have footnotes that contain major spoilers, so that those who either have no intention of seeing the film anyway , or have already seen it, or have seen it and did not understand a thing, or have seen it, hated it, and want further insight into why I liked it, can see my interpretation anyway.

For the death penalty, Against the death penalty, yeesh !!
They say The Life of David Gale doesn't really make a firm stand on the capital punishment debate either way.
I say, why should it?
Some people are for it, some people are against it.
Movies aren't going to change their minds so what's the point?
Might as well play with their minds a little bit.
I'm against it myself; in the long run I always have been, even if I've had my moments when I thought it was a good idea.
For the most part, this movie seems to be mostly against it as well.
So maybe that's why I liked it.
I can't say that facts are used much moreso here than in something like The Green Mile, except for the debate between David Gale and the pro-capital punishment governor of Texas.....

David Gale reads a quote, to which the governor agrees, only for David to reveal that the quote belonged to Hitler.
Talk about a kickass moment.

Well, I'm probably just a moron.
But I thought this movie rocked.
And I'm done now.

Given a mere 24 hours after Gale's story is completely told, Bitsey and Zack race the clock to find the evidence to save his life (at the beginning, Bloom firmly believed that he was guilty of the crime. )
Will she be able to save him

While I did say the subplots were weak, the acting therein is solid.
The movie paces very well for its running time of 130 minutes.
The scenes change fast enough that you don't feel the movie lingers too much in one spot.
I do not want to tell you anymore as Im afraid I will spoil the ending for you.
Basically, the movie is about someone who makes himself a martyr to show how corrupt and fallible a system is.
I would also suggest, if you want to, read "The Last Day of Socrates " by Crito, and then you will get a good idea of what Spacey is doing.

Put two and two together.
I highly recommend this movie.