Lesson Before Dying DVD

A Lesson Before Dying
Don Cheadle, Mekhi Phifer, and Cicely Tyson star in this drama set in the 1940s about a black man sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and teacher who is to counsel him as he awaits execution. A Lesson Before Dying is based on a novel by Ernest J. Gaines. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cast Don Cheadle as Grant Wiggins Cicely Tyson as Tante Lou Mekhi Phifer as Jefferson Irma P. Hall as Miss Emma Brent Jennings as Reverend Ambrose Lisa Anderson as Vivian Baptiste Frank Hoyt Taylor as Sheriff Guidry Stuart Culpepper as Henri Pichot Patty Mack as Inez Elijah Kelley as Clarence Wynton Yates as Louis Washington Clay Chappell as Paul Cierra Meche as Estelle

Crew Robi Reed-Humes - Casting Celia Costas - Co-producer Joseph Sargent - Director Michael Brown - Editor Ted Demme - Executive Producer Ellen Krass - Executive Producer Joel Stillerman - Executive Producer Ernest Troost - Composer (Music Score) Charles C. Bennett - Production Designer Donald M. Morgan - Cinematographer Robert Benedetti - Producer Chuck Jeffries - Stunts Ernest J. Gaines - Book Author

A Lesson Before Dying
It's too much of a lesson to make for great entertainment, but A Lesson Before Dying wasn't made to sell popcorn. In fact, it wasn't even made for the theater. By 1999, cable was the only home for steadfastly earnest movies about soul-searching blacks in the South. Joseph Sargent's film tells an important enough story that it rewards HBO's investment. A Lesson Before Dying wasn't the first nor last such film for Sargent, a prolific TV director, but it did prove a departure for star Don Cheadle, whose previous characters tended to be more unsavory than well-meaning teacher Grant Wiggins. But like his hotel manager in Hotel Rwanda, which would earn Cheadle an Oscar nomination five years later, Wiggins starts out confused, even resentful about his unwitting mission. The film charts both his own growth, and that of the condemned man (Mekhi Phifer), whose self-respect was snatched when his attorney pleaded that executing him would be like executing a hog. The dehumanization of black youths, particularly their abandonment at the hands of the educational system, is rich enough material for a film on its own. But Ann Peacock's adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines' novel is layered enough that it also tackles the divide between light-skinned and dark-skinned blacks, and between the religious and the secular. Grant's unwillingness to be the mouthpiece for the church, when those around him swear it's the only way for the prisoner to find salvation, is the crux of much of the drama. All the performances are effective, but Irma P. Hall is the most moving as the prisoner's life-long caretaker, whom he painfully shuns after his imprisonment. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
 

Emmy, Outstanding Made for Television Movie (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, Spanish Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: 1: PCM mono Additional Features: Interactive menus Cast and crew bios Multiple languages and subtitles tracks Scene selections MPAA Rating: PG13 DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 101 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 0. Chapters 1. Main Title/Crime & Punishment [7:15] 2. The Teacher [6:38] 3. "What Can I Accomplish?" [3:05] 4. The Sheriff [4:24] 5. 1st Visit [4:16] 6. The Classroom [1:45] 7. One On One [3:53] 8. "What's It All For?" [5:53] 9. "Keep On Vexing Me!" [5:42] 10. The Pageant [3:47] 11. Date Is Set [3:24] 12. "Go Ahead And Leave." [2:51] 13. "What Am I Supposed To Be?" [7:26] 14. The Woman I'm Gonna Marry [5:13] 15. The Radio [4:20] 16. The Day Room [8:53] 17. Finding Heaven [7:38] 18. Saying Goodbye [4:24] 19. Staying Strong [5:47] 20. "Thank You, Mr. Wiggins." [4:26]