FRIDAY, MARCH 2:
Into the Abyss: A tale of death, a tale of life ***
Director: Werner Herzog
Stars: Jason Burkett, Werner Herzog and Michael Perry
Country: Germany 2012
Rating: PG13
Running time: 107 minutes
Documentary
Into the Abyss tells the story is death row inmate Michael Perry who is eight days away from execution.
His co-accused Jason Burkett is also heavily featured but was given a life sentence after testimony by his father, who is also serving a life sentence.
Perry and Burkett were convicted in 2001 of a triple homicide over a red Camero in Conroe, Texas. Both men continued to profess innocence when the film was made.
The director takes the viewer in the lives of the two men and shows interviews with the victims’ families, Burkett’s imprisoned father, his wife and a man who knew both inmates.
The question of innocence of guilt doesn’t matter in this film.
But the subject of capital punishment does.
Both the pastor and the executioner are interviewed.
They are always in the room when a prisoner is executed.
The part that stood out to me the most was when the executioner said: “We all start and end with a number.
‘The dash in the middle is your life.
“How are you going to live your dash?”
Herzog was able to capture the story so well and give viewers possibly a new perspective on the importance of living life.