🎬 Movie

A Supreme Court justice re-examines a case file from twenty years ago, the one where he upheld a death sentence. His hand trembles over an old photograph of the convicted — a teenager with frightened eyes. The 2025 documentary 'Executions: The Rise and Fall of Capital Punishment' probes not just a legal procedure, but the darkest edge of human justice. Through archival footage of actual trials, interviews with former executioners, defense attorneys, victims' families, and those exonerated post-sentence, the film constructs a polyphonic chronicle of an institution existing at the intersection of law, morality, and vengeance. The director avoids easy answers, pitting arguments from proponents and opponents against each other, tracing shifts in public opinion and legislation across nations over the past century. The central question persists: can a fallible state hold the right to take a life?