Review of Into the Abyss (2011) by Walter M — 28 Nov 2011

Without going on his usual tangents, Werner Herzog has created a very effective and haunting argument against the death penalty with his latest documentary, "Into the Abyss." Of the arguments, the most damning is that it is no deterrent against future murders. Case in point, there is Michael Perry, who at the age of 18 with Jason Burkett killed three people, all for a car which they drove for three days before they were arrested in a shootout after bragging about it to friends.

To Herzog, nobody should be executed by the state, even Perry who ten years later is on death row while Burkett serves a life sentence and is eligible for parole in 2041. Herzog tells Perry that while he respects him for what he is going through, he also hates him for what he has done. While Perry had possibly a more stable home life, Burkett's father was in and out of jail when he was growing up, now in for a life sentence. It is implied that this led to Burkett's downfall. Ironically, it is Burkett's father who saved his son's life with an emotional speech at the trial.

They are not the only people Herzog talks to. While also steering clear of experts, he interviews family of the victims, pointing out how utterly senseless both the murder and execution are, with the execution being more sterile. And there is an interview with a former guard captain who presided over sometimes two executions in a week who could no longer go on with his job and still suffers from those memories. In the end, Herzog returns to a graveyard, full of anonymous convicts whose bodies were never claimed by family.