By Karen - 10 August 2021
Shocked. This is my deepest feeling after watching "The Life of David Gale". Perhaps the world is not perfect, and life is empty and boring, but there is a kind of person who firmly believes in and pursues ideals, and does not hesitate to use their lives to pave the way to ideals. In many cases, these ideal martyrs cannot be understood by the world, and some are even misunderstood and scolded by people. But it is precisely this kind of person, with the spirit of flying moths to the fire, heralding hope and the future for mankind. David Gale is undoubtedly one of these people.
A respected professor of philosophy in the university, he is also an activist of the anti-death penalty movement. These two identities of David Gale are highly unified in his life values. The student said: “Don't measure your life based on how many desires you achieve, but how many moments of sincerity, compassion, rationality, and even self-sacrifice should be obtained. Because in the end, the only measure of our lives depends on how you view them. The lives of others!” Perhaps it is precisely because they can look at the lives of others more rationally from a philosophical point of view, and truly understand the value and dignity of life, David and his assistant Constance will be more determined and intense. Oppose the death penalty.
The dispute over the abolition of the death penalty has been going on for more than two centuries since Beccaria. In fact, judging from the current situation, the abolition of the death penalty has become an inevitable trend, and it is only a matter of time. It is not easy for those who believe that only the death penalty can be used to punish extreme crimes and demonstrate justice. In fact, the death penalty cannot end the crime, nor does it necessarily show the so-called justice. We should respect human life and the right of everyone to survive, and everyone is equal before this right. In this sense, the death penalty violates this principle-even for criminals. Not to mention that the death penalty may also cause the death of innocent people. In addition, from a religious perspective, life is sacred, and it is forbidden to deprive life in any way, whether it is Christianity or Buddhism.
The state where the story takes place is the state with the most death sentences in the United States. David Gale and his female assistant Constance and others rushed to appeal for the abolition of the death penalty, but with little success. On the TV show, David had a heated debate with the governor. Although he had the upper hand, when the other party asked him to "citize an example that happened in Texas and was misjudged and executed during my tenure", David only Can remain silent. No matter how exciting the debate is, it is not more convincing than an example. This seems to have become a bottleneck in their career: it is necessary to prove that there was a misjudgment in the death penalty, otherwise everything will be ignored. With the execution of one after another "anticipated" death row prisoners, David and Constance were angry and grieved but to no avail.
Everyone has the urge to pursue their ideals, but if they can persist in fighting for their ideals, how much will they end up paying? In particular, the realization of this ideal does not have much immediate benefit to the individual. David and Constance gave an amazing answer at the cost of their lives. In a murder they carefully planned, Constance died painfully, and David stepped onto the torture as a murderer. The shock when the female reporter Bessie learned the truth from the video tape, I think, every viewer can feel it strongly. Murder does not exist, and I am afraid that the rapist's crime is also part of the plan. Thinking of what David said to Bessie: "I didn't ask you to save me, I just want my son to find the memory of his father in the future", everything went according to plan. At the end of the film, after Constance committed suicide, David calmly walked to the camera and turned off the camera. Facing the moment of the camera, a trace of sorrow and compassion appeared on David's face, accompanied by his silent peace, but it brought the viewers an extremely shocking weight. At that moment, I thought of Jesus walking towards the cross. And death is for salvation.
David Gale is an ideal or faith martyr, and his great sacrifice is his precious life. This is exactly the choice he made based on his view of the meaning of life. If Constance chooses to die and getting leukemia is one of the reasons-she wants to make her death more valuable and meaningful, David's choice has a purer meaning of martyrdom. Or in the eyes of some people, the actions of David and others are crazy, but on the other hand, it is difficult for people who lack paranoia and fanaticism to become martyrs. According to Camus's philosophy of life, no destiny is a punishment for people, as long as you try your best, you should be happy. In this sense, ideal martyrs are also pursuing the ultimate state of their own existence. Their happiness lies not in their ideal success, but in the process of pursuing their ideals. When this process is combined with the salvation of others, the brilliance of the divine will burn.
Tribute to David Gale.
