Executions

This documentary really hits hard with the reality of what is going in our world today. Broken down into chapters: Hanging, Stoning, Beheading, Chemical Gas, Lethal injection, Electrocution, Shooting etc etc It shows graphic detail of how people are put to death, not just for punishment but just because they were part of the wrong religion, race or political regime.

Scenes include that of a women being stripped of her clothing before being stoned by street gangs, mass genocide of the holocaust in Africa, many Jewish POWs who were sadly exterminated just because of their place in society and men shot to death for murder, plus much much more.

Some scenes of be-headings are quite interesting as much they are gruesome - due to the fact a scientist proved that the human brain could still function up to 30 seconds after the head was decapitated and finally starved of oxygen.

Ending the story is a man in Beirut named Mohammedine Salar who is accused of a car bombing and finally caught by villagers. They decide to send him to death, again this is by his own people (and not by Jury or Court). He is tied up, blind-folded portrayed in front of the camera and then literally shot to bits - one bullet actually seen 'close up' blowing half his face apart as he continues to struggle for life and fight to take his last breath. Do we feel sorry for him, or the people he killed with a car bomb?

The fact about this documentary is to decide whether execution is humane - you make up your own mind? Worth watching for an educational look at the brutal way of punishment and racial political hatred.

I saw this thinking that i have seen a lot and nothing could shock me anymore, I was wrong. The final execution of the man in Beirut over came everything i have seen before. For those who say that more attention should be payed to the victims, they completely lose sight of the fact that the film is saying that the vast majority of people who have been executed in the 20th Century have never committed any 'Real Crime' and have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am a staunch opposer of capital punishment and i have read a lot of books and seen lots of movies with executions in them but i had to see this because it showed the reality of executions, that whether or not these people have committed crimes they are still human beings. At the beginning of the film they tell us to look into the eyes of people about to be executed. While they are being executed they are wearing blindfolds, which is more for the executioners than for the prisoners. By putting a blindfold over a person you effectively remove the humanity from their faces. I for one could never kill a person, regardles of what they've done because in the end they are the same as me. A great film 10/10

This so-called objective documentary is precisely that. In fact, in the disclaimer before the film, they tell you exactly why the film was made in the first place: To change your mind on the death penalty. Unfortunately, they are not going to do it this way. This program is filled with lies about the death penalty in general, and especially about the practice of it in the United States. The best part of this is a look at the execution of Robert Alton Harris in California's gas chamber. They specifcally talk about what others had seen during his execution. What they do not tell you is why he was given the death penalty in the first place. He was sentenced to die for the murders of two teenage kids. He wanted the car they were in to commit a robbery, so he chased after them and shot them, later bragging to a fellow cellmate that he told one of the boys, who was crying and begging for his life, to "Shut up and die like a man." None of that is mentioned. In fact, the victims are never mentioned at all. Not even once. And they have the audacity to called this film objective. Uh-uh. Nope. Avoid this film at all costs. You will thank me later.

I haven't actually seen this film but was searching for peoples comments towards it as I was thinking of renting it. The reason I'm posting a comment about it is because Houmatt made a very interesting and true point about capital punishment.

quote:- "What they do not tell you is why he was given the death penalty in the first place. He was sentenced to die for the murders of two teenage kids. He wanted the car they were in to commit a robbery, so he chased after them and shot them, later bragging to a fellow cellmate that he told one of the boys, who was crying and begging for his life, to "Shut up and die like a man."

I agree fully with Houmatts views on capital punishment, I've read a few posts of people saying "watch this if you agree on capital punishment, it will change your mind" and I seriously doubt this. These people are sentenced to death as they have committed heinous crimes and are a severe danger to the public or they are very unlikely of being rehabilitated. Before people start saying how awful it is that we use these measures against criminals, perhaps we should look at the crimes committed first. A few names to look out for:

Albert Fish, David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, John Venables and Robert Thompson, Al-Zarqawi, John Travers, Mick Murdoch, Murphy brothers

After finding some information on the list of people above, and taking into consideration the horrible possibility of some of these acts being forced unto some of our own loved ones, would people still disagree with capital punishment. If you ask me, some animals are too wild to be caged and should be dealt with appropriately. An eye for an eye - Bible, book of something :dada:dada:yaddayadda

This is an interesting documentary focusing on the subject of the death penalty and the execution of human beings. The program begins by showing us the guillotine from France, a century ago, and then moves to the current day. We are shown the various forms of execution from shootings, stonings and decapitations to electrocutions, gassings and lethal-injections. World War Two is looked at, with the Nazi's mass genocide of the Jews. Other atrocities are also shown in Bosnia, China, Iraq, Rwanda and South America. An executioner in a Virginia, USA prison shows us the procedure of an execution by electric chair. Some of the images are quite graphic, especially the shooting of a man in Beirut at the end, but overall it isn't too disturbing. The program is narrated well and is engaging enough, although it only runs for 57 minutes. Worth a look.