by Mark Deming
synopsis
Don Cheadle, Mekhi Phifer, and Cicely Tyson star in this drama set in the 1940s about a black man sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and teacher who is to counsel him as he awaits execution. A Lesson Before Dying is based on a novel by Ernest J. Gaines.
characteristics
- Sleeper
- High Production Values
- Black [race]
- Death-penalty
- Men
- Man
- Death Row
- Death-sentence
- Social Injustice
- False-conviction
- Race Relations
- Execution
- Teaching
- Teacher
- Counsel
