The Life of David Gale (2003)

Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) plays David Gale, a brilliant but hard-drinking anti-death penalty crusader on death row for a rape and murder that he claims he didn't commit. The victim of the crime is Gale's close friend and anti-death penalty colleague (Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me), so Gale argues that he's been set up to discredit the cause. Committed journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet, Titanic) takes it upon herself to figure the whole thing out--and so we follow her through a ridiculous plot full of supposedly shocking twists that are telegraphed far in advance and make very little sense when they arrive. The overwritten script tries to cover too many hot-button issues and gives Spacey way too many showy scenes where he gets to be passionate and caring, which is creepier than his psychopath roles in The Usual Suspects and Seven. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

Great Social Commentary

So this movie is well directed and nicely acted in, but the biting part is the social commentary that is involved here.
The plot involves the imprisonment of a college professor for murder and he is facing death row. The ironic part is that he was one of the leading anti-death penalty advocates while he was still working. Now, the problem come because he swears his innocence and wants a reported to attempt to find the true killer for him.
This is a beautifully played out story that teaches people the horrors and problems with the death penalty in America, but does not preach to us. I had nothing but good things to say after seeing this movie and it summed up a lot of my feelings in it as well. May 29, 2008

Great movie!

I recently saw this movie, The Life of David Gale, on TV, having never heard of it before. The critics slammed it, and I guess it was buried. I'm just a movie watcher, so what would I know compared to a "critic." I thought it was great! Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, and Laura Linney were terrific. I'm going to buy this just to watch it again for all those little clues that are missed the first time around December 29, 2007

Excellent!

This is an amazing movie that everyone should see. I think those who reviewed this movie in a negative manner simply did not understand it. December 15, 2007

View it as a simple thriller/mystery or in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment

The Life of David Gale is a movie about the last days of David Gale, an anti-death penalty activist and college philosophy professor sitting on death row for the rape and murder of a colleague. For reasons that are never entirely clear, he grants three doomsday interviews to a young, energetic, principled reporter named Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet). Bitsey travels to Texas's death row to visit Gale in the last three full days of his life. Gale implies that framing a liberal activist for murder is the ultimate triumph, and dangles before Bitsey clues to unraveling his innocence. He doesn't want her to get him off in a last minute stay, but he does want her to keep his legacy alive and continue to research his case.

The movie is no Dead Man Walking, nor is it a clear liberal rant against capital punishment. It's a thriller/mystery that can be viewed as just that (with a few forced twists and plot holes), or it can be considered in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment in a death-happy state like Texas. It's a movie about human foibles and their cost to our families. Laura Linney, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Winslet deliver top notch performances.
July 6, 2007

Something Was Missing

I don't know quite how to put it. The Life of David Gale is certainly a message film sprinkled with suspense, but the ending left me bewildered. Why did the murder suspect mail Bitsey a second tape that showed David Gale involved with the suicide? Other questions I raise are: What motive did Berlin have for charging Gale with rape? Why did Gale's wife and son flee to Italy or was it Spain? Is Gale's situation so hopeless that he decides to die for the cause? Gale and the murder suspect didn't seem to have a strong bond of friendship, yet what would compel the murder suspect to travel to Europe with a suitcase of money and make sure that Gale's wife receives it? Does anyone have any answers? The film is complex with its layers of left wing politics, morality plays, and Hitchcockian twists, but still comes up short. A classic film that contrasts innocence with guilt without the death penalty issue is The Wrong Man starring Henry Fonda. March 22, 2007

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