A wonderful, understated movie. Very British in style and with excellent acting.
Timothy Spall gives a wonderful serious performance as the thorough dedicated unquestioning professional whose value system is entirely interwoven with the mechanics of his arcane job. He never questions the rights and wrongs of his task: other people have decided whether his victims live or die-- he merely executes their verdicts with as much dignity and professionalism as he can.
There is no vengeance or remorse for his victims. He will not engage in debates or recriminations about either those whose guilt was famously in doubt, or those whose crimes were breathtaking in their depravity. All deserve a speedy painless death and a decent burial.
The highlight of the film is when he has to confront in the condemned cell a regular at his bar whom he knows only by nickname and does not realise his identity until he has to 'size him up' for the drop. This scene is beautifully and believably acted and is extremely convincing. The incident is very true and is portrayed almost exactly as Pierrepoint described it in his memoirs.
With capital punishment now discontinued in most civilised countries we are unlikely to see the likes of Pierrepoint again. He is portrayed as a man of his time. Loyal, obedient, trusting of his place in society and determined to uphold the status quo as he sees it. Which includes dispatching those who, rightly or wrongly, fell on the wrong side of it.
The moment of crisis in the film forces him to confront the fact that the line between guilt and innocents is sometimes a thin one indeed.
Timothy Spall gives a wonderful serious performance as the thorough dedicated unquestioning professional whose value system is entirely interwoven with the mechanics of his arcane job. He never questions the rights and wrongs of his task: other people have decided whether his victims live or die-- he merely executes their verdicts with as much dignity and professionalism as he can.
There is no vengeance or remorse for his victims. He will not engage in debates or recriminations about either those whose guilt was famously in doubt, or those whose crimes were breathtaking in their depravity. All deserve a speedy painless death and a decent burial.
The highlight of the film is when he has to confront in the condemned cell a regular at his bar whom he knows only by nickname and does not realise his identity until he has to 'size him up' for the drop. This scene is beautifully and believably acted and is extremely convincing. The incident is very true and is portrayed almost exactly as Pierrepoint described it in his memoirs.
With capital punishment now discontinued in most civilised countries we are unlikely to see the likes of Pierrepoint again. He is portrayed as a man of his time. Loyal, obedient, trusting of his place in society and determined to uphold the status quo as he sees it. Which includes dispatching those who, rightly or wrongly, fell on the wrong side of it.
The moment of crisis in the film forces him to confront the fact that the line between guilt and innocents is sometimes a thin one indeed.