Review of Into the Abyss (2011) by Jonny A — 09 Nov 2011

I attended a pre-screening of "Into the Abyss" by Werner Herzog and I have to say that is a film that will stay with you after you've left the theater. As a person who grew up in Texas, being a death penalty advocate is just something that it almost ingrained into the culture. It was not until I was an adult that I began to really think about the complexities of the issue and this is the stance that Herzog takes while making it clear that he is an absolutely against the death penalty.

Herzog could not have possibly picked a more disgusting or disturbing case than the story of two teenagers who killed 3 people just to steal a car. The level of calculation and cold blood, along with their inability to accept personal responsibility will shake you to your core. It would be easy to say that they deserve to die, but Herzog shows that the role of executioner is not as easy as it seems. Herzog took a completely new route because he showed the toll on the Death House workers themselves along side of the man who was set to die in a few days, the co-defendant who got life and the families who were hurt.

The never spoken of toll on the death house chief was completely unrelenting. To ask a non-murderer to kill is just immoral in itself. I never really considered the damage it did to them until I saw it last night. Wow. I can't imagine the PTSD they may have from working there. Definitely check this documentary out. It was only a section of it, but I found it the most powerful section of the film and believe it adds a new facet to the discussion of the immorality of the death penalty.