There’s a snag of resistance at the start of Into the Abyss, Werner Herzog’s new documentary about the execution of Michael Perry, the 2001 triple homicide he was convicted of (but never confessed to) with Jason Burkett, and the relatives of their victims. The film opens with a shot of a cemetery filled with identical white crosses where the unclaimed bodies of inmates are buried, and an interview with the man standing in front of it, Reverend Richard Lopez, a clergyman for death row inmates in Huntsville, Texas. He tears up as he talks about counseling men who are about to be given a lethal injection, about how, with their permission, he holds their ankle as they’re on the gurney so that they have the comfort of human contact as they pass.
It’s an uncomfortable moment, this abrupt leap into such fraught territory, and there’s a palpable disconnect between the subject matter and Herzog’s familiar voice, from off-screen, prompting Lopez for stories about his encounters with wildlife on the golf course on the weekends. A few years ago, Steve James’ heartsick At the Death House Door launched from a very similar shot into an investigation of the wrongful death of Carlos DeLuna and a gentle but relentless examination of the flaws in the American capital punishment system. That’s not the type of film you’d expect or want of Herzog, but at the same time it’s something the topic all but demands. Could this be territory in which there’s no…
Deanna Russo Denise Richards Desiree Dymond Diane Kruger Dido Diora Baird Dita Von Teese
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