vernon film society
Bringing the best in world and Canadian film to film lovers of Vernon and the North Okanagan
PIERREPOINT: THE LAST HANGMAN
Director: Adrian Shergold
Cast: Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, Eddie Marsan
Runtime: 90 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Rating: 14A (Violence; sexually suggestive scene)
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/pierrepoint
PIERREPOINT: THE LAST HANGMAN – an award-nominated film that had its premiere at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival® – chronicles the fascinating, macabre life of Albert Pierrepoint (Timothy Spall, VANILLA SKY, THE LAST SAMURAI). A large, somewhat awkward and simple-mannered working-class fellow at the film’s outset, Pierrepoint soon interviews at the local prison to become a hangman. According to
Pierrepoint’s mother, the same job had turned his father into an alcoholic and hustled him into an early grave, yet Pierrepoint feels he has the unique skills to succeed. The job requires strong statistical abilities in order to judge the drop required to snap a prisoner’s neck without ripping off his head. Larger inmates sometimes require a different rope density; certain personalities demand more finesse in leading them from their cell to the execution room. Pierrepoint is concerned not with the morality of execution, but with ensuring a quick and humane death. If the state has determined that a given criminal should be hanged, it is not his place to judge. He rises quickly through the ranks; his extraordinary work in dispatching hundreds of prisoners of war makes him a media star in Britain. But gradually, he becomes increasingly unsure of his moral imperatives at the same time that abolitionists begin a fierce campaign to end hanging. One of Britain’s most impressive actors, Spall gives a breathtaking performance as Pierrepoint, Great Britain’s best-known public executioner and last official Chief Hangman. He captures the man’s gradual change from confident and capable to wiser and conflicted with extraordinary subtlety. Juliet Stevenson is a lovely counterpoint as his wife; her tough response to Pierrepoint’s evolving dilemma delivers a chilling reminder that human life consists of considerably more than statistics. At a time when frontier justice seems to be making a comeback, this gentle reminder of the burden of conscience that the death penalty places on society is most welcome indeed.
“This rivetingly watchable re-creation of Pierrepoint’s career features an outstanding performance from Timothy Spall as the hangman….” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“Invites viewers to think critically about such weighty concepts as justice, atonement and personal accountability." - Kamal AL-Solaylee, The Globe and Mail
