Product Description

What would you do if you discovered that 13 people slated for execution had been found innocent? That was exactly the question that Illinois Governor George Ryan faced in his final days in office. He alone was left to decide whether 167 death row inmates should live or die. In the riveting countdown to Ryan's decision, Deadline details the gripping drama of the state's clemency hearings. Documented as the events unfold, Deadline is a compelling look inside America's prisons, highlighting one man's unlikely and historic actions against the system.

DVD features will include: Interview with directors Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson. Additional Scenes: Governor George Ryan's Clemency Speech, Interview with Governor George Ryan, Gabriel Solache and the Vienna Convention, Furman v. Georgia: Donald Schneble, Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation: Mamie Till Mobley, Governor Ryan and the Death Penalty, Filmmaker Biographies, Glossary of Terms, Internet Links.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80406 in DVD
• Brand: CHEVIGNY,KATY
• Released on: 2004-10-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Proving that a documentary can be both rigorous and stylish, Deadline delves into the hot-button topic of the death penalty, with particular focus on the 2002 investigation initiated by former Republican governor of Illinois, George H. Ryan, after an investigative journalism class at Northwestern University proved that three men on Illinois' death row were innocent. The current debate focuses not on the moral right-or-wrong of capital punishment, but on whether the legal system can keep an innocent man from being condemned to death. The debate is by no means simple, and Deadline presents a balanced picture, interviewing lawyers, anti-death penalty advocates, politicians, and men who've been released from death row, all of whom are lucid and articulate. But it's testimonies from victims that are the most emotionally wrenching--and you may be surprised by their statements. A superb documentary, directed by Katy Chevigny and Kisten Johnson. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

An extremely well-crafted and thought provoking documentary
Deadline is a remarkably good documentary. It is thought provoking and emotionally wrenching. Early on, I found myself drawn in, torn, going back and forth with each new argument for or against the death penalty. That's the mark of a well constructed doc. It shakes you up, makes you think, and ultimately re-examine what it is that you believe. As we age and change, we can outgrow some of our values without fully realizing it. Works like Deadline stimulate introspection and the clarification of one's deepest values by asking questions like, "What is the function of the State? The Courts? The Legal System as a whole? As a community, how do we define such things as mercy, compassion, forgiveness? What is Justice? And what is the value we give to human life?"
There seems to be a resurgence in documentaries in the last few years and Deadline shows just how powerful this genre of film making can be. Thanks for keeping the bar set so high. Enjoy.

Must see if you believe in justice
I watched this video as I am an actor presently performing in "The Exonerated," an award-winning play on the same topic. Before learning more about the topic, I was very naive in understanding how arbitrarily the death penalty is imposed in our country. Everyone who believes in justice and humanity should see this video and then decide for yourself what a citizen should do about the situation. It reveals what is wrong with our system and gives the real stories of those who are at work in our society to improve the criminal justice system.

What you don't know can hurt you!
This is a gut-wrenching and thought provoking movie about the criminal justice system in the United States. The directors do an excellent job of demonstrating how emotional factors play into the prosecution of suspected murderers and how the more heinous the crime, the more likely an unjust verdict will be reached. Since it is the poor, the uneducated and the minorities who are the least protected in our society, they, of course, bear the brunt of the failure of our criminal justice system to protect the innocent. Deadline makes a very good point that as long as we focus on the outrage of the crime and ignore how capital murder cases are being prosecuted, we will be doomed to an unjust system.

I have just read two excellent compilations describing each and every case for those recently executed entitled, Death Penalty USA: 2003 - 2004 and Death Penalty USA: 2005 - 2006 by Michelangelo Delfino and Mary E. Day who also do an excellent job and I highly recommend these books if you really want to really know how the ultimate penalty is being imposed in the U.S.