Dead Man Walking (1995)

Tim Robbins adapted Sister Helen Prejean's book about her spiritual work with a man on death row, and the film's great strength is that it argues with itself. Sean Penn's Matthew Poncelet is neither easy to pity nor simple to condemn, and the victims' parents are given real weight rather than a token scene. Susan Sarandon won the Oscar for Best Actress as Prejean. Groups that agree about capital punishment before the screening often find their certainty tested by the end of it.