i saw the "spectral visions" as symbolic of penn's character finally accepting

that he wronged not only the parents of his victims, but the victims

themselves.  their presence indicated not that they wished to view the

execution, but rather that they, too, were a part of the story.

 

given the spiritual nature of the film, i also viewed their presence as

an indication to penn that his victims were indeed eternal creatures

whose pain didn't necessarily end with their death.  most importantly, i

assumed that the "ghosts" were not actual spiritual manifestations, but

were what penn's character viewed as he looked upon the victims of his

crime.  in this sense, their appearance was a final demonstration of

penn's admission of guilt (or the final demonstration of his retrieval of

"dignity," if you will.)

 

of course, this scene can be viewed in several ways, and therein lies of

the beauty of robbin's filmmaking.  i have never seen such a fine example

of "reader response" criticism in film.  both dead man walking and bob

roberts allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions based primarily

on the belief systems they held before entering the theater.  for

example, both bob roberts and his democratic opponent are accused of

moral crimes, who you believe depends on whether you are a democrat or a

republican.  is bob robert's toe tapping a sign of his ultimate treachery

or a divine sign that he is being healed?  you make the call.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Rand Bellavia

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--sigh--

 

                "I'm familiar with the work of Pablo Neruda."

 

                                                - Bart Simpson

 

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