Review of Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (2005) by Lee S — 20 Nov 2007

Albert Pierrepoint was the best hangman in the country. He tells himself that when he walks in the execution room that he is a different person, and that it is the state that is doing the killing, not him.

Grocery delivery man by day, hangman by night, he is in no way sadistic, but treats each of the condemned with dignity and respect, and makes sure that each execution is as quick and painless as possible.

Yet, after hanging 13 Nazis a day (who also professed to be only "doing their job") for weeks on end, after the Nuremburg trials, his emotional walls start to crumble, and he finds himself considering the fact that he is a murderer after all.

This is a fascinating and disturbing movie.