Review of Into the Abyss (2011) by Maria U — 11 May 2012

Although this is not a political film, Herzog's 'Into the Abyss' is a heart-wrenching examination of capital punishment, which offers no facts and statistics, ideas or abstractions, but the testimony of real people in pain. A documentary that attempts to cover all sides of one particular issue deserves to be applauded. Everyone affected by this horrible crime is enveloped in a web of pain and sorrow, including the accused and their families. Is there any explanation to why a couple of youngsters would take the lives of three people in order to steal a car? Will taking yet another life as some form of justice that sounds more like a medieval "eye for an eye" solve anything? The debate is on the table.

I found especially moving the testimony of one of the perpetrators' father, himself in prison for life, with another son also incarcerated. Devastated, he blames his son's crimes on himself, and we know there is some truth to this. Listening to the sister and daughter of two of the victims is also very distressing.