Reviewed by Peter Bate

Those who've seen Dead Man Walking will know the strong themes of death, repentance, loss, redemption and ultimate punishment that the film contains. A true story of Sister Helen Prejean's representation of a Death Row murderer, the movie successfully balances the grief of the victims' parents with the horror of the death penalty itself. Rather than putting the film's score plus a couple of big name artist tracks onto a CD, producer Tim Robbins approached a number of 'thinking' songwriters to compose songs especially for the picture. The result is 12 moving tracks by singers including Bruce Springsteen, Lyle Lovett, Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega and the inimitable Johnny Cash. Spiritual undercurrents surface in almost all songs. Michelle Shocked sings about "the quality of mercy" in the light of Christ's crucifixion and Mary Chapin Carpenter asks "God forgive somehow/We have yet to learn the same." Tom Waits' two gruff-voiced contributions paint strong pictures, Steve Earle offers a harrowing tale of life on "Ellis Unit One" while Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Pakistan's Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan collaborate hauntingly. Buy the soundtrack, but more importantly see the movie.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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