Although he is against the death penalty, Werner Herzog is not on this side of the glass for complacency nor looking to be used as an instrument, he clarifies from the very beginning. His honesty doesn’t preclude that, from the other side, the condemned tell him the reasons why they are there, without hope of ever getting out alive from the prison they inhabit, in the states of Texas and Florida. The mini-series in four parts ‚ James Barnes, Linda Carty, Joseph Garcia and George Rivas, and Hank Skinner ‚, which was born from the previous project Into the Abyss, is an observation of the American death penalty system and of human nature, cruel in its reflection. Through interviews with the convicted, their families, lawyers involved in the cases, witnesses of the crimes and the victims’ families, Herzog offers a complete overview of each story, without judgment. A simple presentation of the facts and the narration of the stories with a scary naturalism gives rise to an inevitable and profound analysis of human behavior. (M. M.)
