Review of Into the Abyss (2011) by Ray H — 28 Nov 2011

A thought provoking movie. Director, Werner Herzog, gives us a straight-forward look into the events surrounding a senseless, triple murder in Texas. This documentary is very well done. It reminded me of his excellent earlier film, GRIZZLY MAN. He does not seem to want to push his, or any other particular point-of-view. He just lays out the facts. But, this movie is definitely anti-capital punishment.

Herzog lays out the details of the murders. He talks to the killers, their relatives/acquaintances, some family members of the victims; and very interestingly, he includes the local police and members of the prison staff. I wish he had included the statements of the killers about the WHY of the murders. Or, he could have asked the prosecutors office about the killers explanations/justifications. We know they did it. It would have been interesting to hear their delusions/excuses.

He talks to only 3 people to give context to the dark side of the community. One is the older brother of one victim. This guy provided a loose connection of his innocent brother to the criminal under-class. He, in effect, set his brother up to be killed. Another guy gives some context to the life-style of the criminal under-class. These people are out-there, amongst us. The last person is a former woman bartender. She comments that she saw and heard about, a lot of bad things while she worked in this particular bar. I wish Herzog had pursued that line of inquiry a bit. If this woman felt threatened/damaged by her work place, why didnt she move on? What kinds of things did she experience?

Im sure every city, and small town, has a bar that is frequented by the criminal under-class. And, to some degree, these dark-souls can be indentified moving about in the public spaces the rest of us occupy. Watch out 4 those face/neck tattoos and the home-made tattoos, shown/seen anywhere. It is wise to be aware and alert.

Another, very interesting interview, was with the prison-correspondence-wife of the sentenced-to-life prisoner. Here was a woman who sought out a convicted killer to become her husband; and apparently, the father of her child. This woman, the killers, other members of the criminal under-class, do not have a normal, common attachment to the greater society. Somewhere along the line, they have made a basic decision to live in the present. They dont plan ahead. They dont seem to have any respect or regard 4 the lives or property of others. They dont value education or regular work. They seem especially enamored of alcohol, illegal drugs, and casual sex. They often feed their desires with criminal activity. As the olde saying goes, they are a cancer on the greater society.

The interview with the former captain of the prison death house crew was very moving. The mans job had eaten away at his mental/emotional health. I read a book about the history of capital punishment in Great Britain. This deterioration of the executioners mental health was documented there too. I suspect the job requires a very special kind of person. And, maybe, it should be a very short career position.

As the daughter, sister, of 2 of the murder victims says; some people do not deserve to continue to live. Quick and reasonably humane execution does seem to be the way to go.

Although this film had recently opened; it was now showing only once per day. There were few customers at the viewing I attended. It seems most people dont care to think about negative subject matter like this.