it easy to kill a monster and but it hard to kill a human be . set in st. thomas housing project and angola prison in new orleans and dead man walking be the true story of helen prejean ( susan sarandon ) and a louisiana nun sister who befriend matthew poncelet ( sean penn ) and a murderer and a rapist bound for a lethal injection machine for kill a teenage couple sister helen agree to help the convict and to remain with him till the endan act never before attempt by a woman at their first meeting and poncelet swears to the nun that his accomplice be the one who shoot both of the kid and plead her help for a new trial in order to convince the pardon board hearing to spare his life the film challenge the audience to actually give some thought to the human consequence of the death penalty and but give voice to angry bereaved parent whose kid be shot and stabbed and rap and and leave in the wood to die alone a poncelet execution loom close and closer and his character be see deceptively complex and harbor doubt about the rightness of what they be do to him in one moment and we hear him sensitive ask for a lie detector test to let his mother know that he be innocent and in another we see him furious play the victim and blame the government and drug and black and the kid for be there poncelet never understand that he have rob the percy and the delacroix so much and give them nothing but sorrow they be never go to see their child again and never go to hold them and to love them and to laugh with them in the scene lead up to his execution and the death row inmate drop his terrible facade and reveal his identity luckily both sarandon and penn be here exceptionalcarrying out successfully an exquisite and tangible harmony of soul when sarandon be look at penn and she be project compassionate eye brim with tear she ask him to visualize her a he dies i want the last thing you see in this world to be the face of lovein that moment and we truly believe that she will be the face of love for him .