Into The Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life (2011)

Director Werner Herzog

Forming part of Werner Herzog’s Death Row project (which also includes a series of shorter TV films), Into the Abyss is an outstanding exploration of violent crime and its consequences. Herzog focuses on two main characters, Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, convicted of a triple homicide committed in their home state of Texas. Perry was interviewed on camera just days before his execution; Burkett did not receive the death sentence, but was sentenced to life in prison after his father, himself a convicted felon, pleaded for clemency. Alongside these protagonists, Herzog talks to their families and those of the victims, as well as to a chaplain and others intimately involved in administering the death sentence.

Much of the strength of the film lies in Herzog’s interview style, which is respectful, but never precludes him asking uncomfortable questions (‘destiny has dealt you a bad deck of cards, which doesn’t exonerate you and which does not mean I have to like you’). What emerges is a coruscating study of the senselessness of violence, whether from individuals or state, and a particularly disturbing picture of the society that breeds it. - Sandra Hebron, BFI London Film Festival