The Execution of Wanda Jean (2002)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Director Liz Garbus has made a documentary that is not impartial (what is?), but she still manages to deliver an emotional blow against capital punishment. We become a third party to barbarism dressed up in nice suits and righteous, grotesque Christian indignation. Wanda Jean Allen is out of touch with reality. As she faces her last moments of existence, she still thinks she's going back to her Oklahoma City jail cell in the morning. Even strapped to her execution gurney, she playfully sticks out her tongue and simulates dancing. She somehow thinks it's all part of a process. Does anyone really believe that the family of Gail Leathers (the murdered woman) is relieved that Wanda Jean is dead? Does that make them feel good in the morning? Maybe so, but what about the next morning? 'Closure' is a myth. Even the murdered woman's mother forgave Wanda Jean (in the spirit of Christ and the original meaning of Christianity), but that still wasn't good enough for the Bible-thumping State of Oklahoma. The contradiction glares at the viewer.It was disturbing to see this woman at the clemency hearing, where the ostensibly impartial three-person board had rubber-stamped the outcome long before the hearing was even held. It was a bad joke. One member of the board (a black man) was caught yawning and looking very disinterested. Later, he was seen laughing with another member of this kangaroo board. Director Garbus captured this brilliantly with no comment. This was documentary film-making at its finest.Wanda Jean was a murderer, for any number of reasons. We'll never know why. The State of Oklahoma was more interested in exacting Biblical vengeance than studying the murderous nature of a mentally slow human being. The film vividly shows us that she wasn't conscious of what was real or unreal. She should have been caught in the system after her first killing in 1981, long before the murder of Gail Leathers in 1988. Apparently, Oklahome has no such system. Garbus even offers us a bizarre (and dead-serious) newscast that highlights Oklahoma's 'executions of the week,' a check-list of those awaiting their fate on death row. I didn't know how to process this exercise in literal gallows humour.The emotion in this film can overwhelm you at times, particularly if you don't believe in capital punishment in general and, in this film's case, capital punishment for someone who is obviously not mentally in tune with reality.

I was watching her story on A&E today and I found it very interesting. so interesting that I immediately Googled her name so that I could read about her story in more depth. What I did not know was that she was convicted previously and did crime for killing another lover. I was feeling sorry for her until I read more about her and I see why she was not granted clemency. It seems that she was making a habit out of killing and she needed to be stopped. LIke her family, I think that execution was a cop out and she should have spent the rest of her life in prison. Her team worked exceptionally hard on her case and at the end was really emotional and I could see the sincerity of his pleas for her to live. Excellent piece of work and A&E should re-play it.

I just saw the HBO Documentary on the Execution of Wanda Jean Allen. I found it very compelling. It raised serious questions about mental state and education, or the lack there of. I have long wondered about the families who have to go through watching their loved ones fight for a stay of execution, however, I found that this particular family seemed to forget what got Wanda Jean on the Death Row. There were many family members who kept asking "Why is this happening to her?" or "Why are they putting her (or us) through this?" The answer is very simple: Wanda Jean killed Gloria Leathers! I'm not saying that they shouldn't join in the fight to save Wanda Jean's life, but let's not forget that she did the crime! Also, if you are going to fight for something, don't fight with those who are trying to help you. There were times when I felt the family worked against the lawyer that was trying to help Wanda Jean.With that said, I couldn't stop watching the documentary and would recommend it to others.

As someone who is opposed to capital punishment, I found this story of a somewhat retarded black lesbian woman on death row in Oklahoma very difficult to watch. The lawyer who originally defended her was, by his own admission, unqualified, and was only paid $800 for his work. He totally botched the case, and the efforts documented in this film to introduce evidence of her retardation and brain damage which was inexplicably omitted by the original attorney were blocked at every turn. The filmmakers originally got involved to make a tape for Wanda Jean's clemency hearing, but continued to document the case after that failed.The main investigator working for Wanda Jean was at the screening on 2/28/2002, and he said that based on the evidence he heard when he first became involved, he never expected to lose. Some of his scenes in the film are heartbreaking to watch. Wanda Jean, meanwhile, remains upbeat and highly religious to the very end. This film has since aired on HBO. Seen at Cinequest (the San Jose, CA film festival).