"Actor: Steve Boles"

• Dead Man Walking | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £7.73   |  Saving you £8.26 (106.86%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A serious film on a serious subject, Dead Man Walking (1995) is enriched by two excellent performances: Sean Penn as a murderer and rapist facing execution on Death Row, and Susan Sarandon as a nun who visits and befriends him. Tim Robbins, the writer and director of the film (and Sarandon's husband), based the film on a true story, and there's not much narrative tension since it's obvious Penn will not escape his fate. But the film is a clear-eyed look at the realities of capital punishment and its grisly rituals, which at the same time never sentimentalises the people or the issues. There is no shying away from the evil of the murderer's acts and their effects on the victims' families, but this is balanced against the heartlessness and cynicism of those in the prison system and their political masters. It's hard to say whether the film is ultimately against capital punishment; it certainly encourages you to think for yourself. On the DVD: The image and sound quality is excellent, in widescreen ratio 16:9. There's a theatrical trailer and a TV commercial for the film, which also has language tracks in English, French and Spanish and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Dutch and Hungarian. There's also an audio commentary on the film by director Tim Robbins which gives valuable insights into the political background of the film and the shooting process. --Ed Buscombe

• Unshackled | DVD | (28/06/2004) from £5.54   |  Saving you £7.45 (134.48%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Unshackled is the unforgettable story of two men. One Harold Morris was white - a sharecroppers son from South Carolina. The other Marcus 'Doc' Odomes was black - raised by his mother in inner city New York. Both were doing life sentences in Georgia State Penitentiary when the prison was forced to integrate under federal mandate. It was the last prison in America to do so. They were thrown into an 8ft by 10 ft cell and the door was slammed shut. This is their story.