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Deadline (2004)
Director(s):
Katy Chevigny, Kirsten Johnson
Producer(s):
Katy Chevigny, Dallas Brennan
Genre:
Documentary
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Former Governor George H. Ryan joins a panel of guests, including the filmmakers, at a screening on June 4th at 6:15 and 8:15 p.m at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
The filmmakers will also be joined by notable activists and attorneys, including “Presumed Innocent” author Scott Turow, on screenings throughout June 10th.
Check the schedule.
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It's exceedingly rare for a film that screens at Sundance to show up on network television within the year. It's even more of a rarity for a documentary to command regular supporting speaking appearances by a former Governor. The independent documentary "Deadline," playing at the Gene Siskel Film Center in June, does both.
Directed by New Yorkers Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson, the film focuses on the period from October of 2002 to January of 2003, when former Illinois Governor George Ryan, after receiving information from a group of Northwestern University journalism students which resulted in the exoneration of 13 men from the state's Death Row, called for special one-hour clemency hearings for all capital murder cases.
Chevigny and Johnson follow the action as it unfolds, capturing trial footage, interviewing inmates and political figures (including author/attorney Scott Turow) and intercutting archival footage regarding pivotal death penalty cases. While the film shows none of the stylistic flourish of an Errol Morris film, it's clearly influenced in motivation by the success of "The Thin Blue Line," an astounding 1988 documentary that helped save a Texas man from the electric chair.
While the filmmaking style of "Deadline" is fairly unremarkable, the content and riveting courtroom footage in particular were compelling enough to command the attention of NBC Chairman and CEO Bob Wright, who convinced the filmmakers to forgo the typical film release "window" system (theatrical release, pay per view, DVD, cable, networks, etc.) and allow the film to be screened on the news show Dateline in upcoming months. It's easy to see why.
That a bunch of college kids were able to spot glaring errors in capital murder cases where the State had failed clearly and justifiably shook Ryan, a Republican who, as a legislator, had voted for the death penalty. As he said in press conferences at the time, more people had been let off Death Row due to insufficient cases than had been executed, which made the decision for him similar to a "flip of the coin."
Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights explains the dilemma perhaps most succinctly, saying "if those (journalism) students had decided to take chemistry that semester, those folks would have been executed."
Ryan throws open the doors in the hearings to the media, sharing with the public the arguments regarding a system that, no matter what side of the capital punishment you're on, possessed more than a few glaring flaws. As one might imagine, highly compressed debates over the life and death of convicted murderers makes for a visceral viewing experience.
There are outrage and disgust from prosecutors and victims' relatives. There are tears and pleas for mercy from convicts' families, even the occasional apology from a family member whose loved one has admitted to committing a heinous crime. Defense teams tell tales of torture, ludicrously inadequate interrogation methods and disparities between race and class. It's gripping stuff caught at a pivotal moment in Illinois history.
Of course, after lengthy deliberation over which Ryan justifiably agonized, the former Governor decided last year to grant blanket commutation for all of Illinois' 167 Death Row inmates, an important and groundbreaking decision in the history of capital punishment. How that decision effects the 3,000 men and women awaiting executions in prisons across the United States is yet to be seen, which may be why NBC was so quick to jump on the film.
It's also a good reason to go see it for yourself.
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Written by Richard Sharp
Review Date: May 31, 2004
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