a lesson before dying movie review

A Lesson Before Dying

HBO has yet another winner with its latest original movie, based on the critically acclaimed book by Ernest J. Gaines about a man awaiting his execution in 1948 Louisiana. "A Lesson Before Dying" which made both the New York Times bestseller list and Oprah's book club picks, is a complex but expertly told parable about salvation and strength of spirit.

By Laura Fries

Laura Fries

• TV Review: ‘I’ll Have What Phil’s Having’ 9 years ago
• TV Review: Lifetime’s ‘If There Be Thorns,’ ‘Seeds of Yesterday’ 9 years ago
• TV Review: ‘House of Versace’ 11 years ago

HBO has yet another winner with its latest original movie, based on the critically acclaimed book by Ernest J. Gaines about a man awaiting his execution in 1948 Louisiana. “A Lesson Before Dying” which made both the New York Times bestseller list and Oprah’s book club picks, is a complex but expertly told parable about salvation and strength of spirit. Unlike “Dead Man Walking,” this death row drama is not about a guilty man coming to terms with his life, but rather an innocent man coming to terms with his death.

Mekhi Phifer stars as Jefferson, a young field hand who one fateful day accepts a ride from a pair of locals only to see his life ruined in an instant. The only surviving witness to a triple homicide, Jefferson is subsequently accused and convicted of the crime.

Related Stories

First Paramount, Now SiriusXM: Can Warren Buffett’s Media Investments Be Trusted?

Drew Starkey on His Breakout Role in Luca Guadagnino's 'Queer' and Filming Steamy Scenes With Daniel Craig: We 'Were Just Game for Anything'

His lawyer, in a desperate plea to spare his life, begs the all-white jury not to send Jefferson to the chair, comparing the idea to sending a hog to its death. Of all of the injustices Jefferson has recently suffered, this is the ultimate humiliation. It doesn’t sway the jury anyway, and Jefferson is sentenced to die.

Popular on Variety

His godmother Miss Emma (Irma P. Hall), a commanding matriarch, realizes she is powerless in stopping his death but is determined that Jefferson win back his self-respect before his execution. She and friend Tante Lou (Cicely Tyson) enlist Grant Wiggins (Don Cheadle), the local teacher, to take Jefferson on as his pupil.

As Grant sees it, when a white man is killed, a black man has to die for it. That’s just the way of the South.

Grant originally left town to escape this kind of oppression, only to return after college to find that little had changed. On the verge of leaving again, Tante Lou reminds him of his sense of duty, to her, to the community, and to Jefferson.

To Grant, the experience is an insult to his education and his intelligence; to Jefferson, it’s basically a waste of time. But the two have a common link in their anger, and this alienation slowly gives way to a poignant dialogue.

The visits to the jail become cathartic for both men. Not only does Grant learn to respect Jefferson, he earns newfound respect for the women in his life.

Miss Emma, Tante Lou and even Grant’s girlfriend Vivian (Lisa Arrindell Anderson) represent another kind of courage needed to survive this environment. Their weapon is endurance, something that at first, Grant sees as a weakness. He tells Vivian that her notion of change through persistence is “the battle cry of the defeated.” But each of these women has a massive reserve of strength, exerting fierce power when needed. They have all been waiting to find a man who can match their determination, or as Vivian says, “stay in the South and not be broken.” In the end, Grant is transformed just as much as Jefferson.

The movie features a true ensemble cast in the sense that all thesps shine in their respective roles. Nearly every scene is intense and significant but never melodramatic — a difficult feat for such a varied group of actors to pull off. In fact, come awards time, it will be a difficult task to distinguish between lead and supporting roles, although Cheadle and Phifer deserve special recognition for their equally powerful performances.

Writer Ann Peacock does justice to Gaines’ story, and both Peacock and director Joseph Sargent create a lyrical mood with their words and images. A special note should be made to Charles C. Bennett’s historically accurate and detailed sets as well as Ernest Troost’s mood-setting music.

Technical credits meet the highest of standards.

HBO; Sat. May 22, 8 p.m.

• Production: Filmed on location in Louisiana by HBO NYC Prods. Executive producers, Ellen Krass, Joel Stillerman, Ted Demme; producer, Robert Benedetti; director, Joseph Sargent; writer, Ann Peacock
• Crew: Camera, Donald M. Morgan; co-producer, Celia Costas; editor, Michael Brown; production designer, Charles C. Bennett; music, Ernest Troost; casting, Robi Reed-Humes.
• Cast: Grant Wiggins - Don Cheadle Tante Lou - Cicely Tyson Jefferson - Mekhi Phifer Miss Emma - Irma P. Hall Reverend Ambrose - Brent Jennings Vivian Baptiste - Lisa Arrindell Anderson Sheriff Guidry - Frank Hoyt Talyor Henri Pichot - Stuart Culpepper Inez - Patty Mack Clarence - Elijah Kelley Louis Washington - Wynton Yates Paul - Clay Chappell Estelle - Cierra Meche

More from Variety

SciTech Awards Committee Investigating 11 Areas of Innovation for Academy Consideration

Disney’s Theme Parks Problem Is a Monster of Its Own Making

Angelina Jolie Could Sing Her Way to Second Oscar Win Playing a Legendary Diva in Pablo Larrain’s ‘Maria’

‘Flow,’ Animated Feature Oscar Contender and Annecy Winner, Lands Fall Release Date (EXCLUSIVE)

Venu Legal Fight Is About More Than FuboTV: What’s at Stake for the Entire Industry

Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’ Captivates Telluride and Generates Oscar Heat for Mikey Madison

More from our brands, 14-year-old boy identified as georgia school shooting suspect.

$6.2 Million Will Score You This Seventh-Floor Spread at the Dakota in N.Y.C.

Navarro, Pegula Highlight Billionaire Parents at U.S. Open

The Best Loofahs and Body Scrubbers, According to Dermatologists

Outlander Finale Recap: A Pivotal Death Sends Jamie and Claire Back to Where It All Began — Plus, Grade It!

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• About Rotten Tomatoes®
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening This Week
• Top Box Office
• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most Popular Streaming Movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 73% Blink Twice Link to Blink Twice
• 95% Strange Darling Link to Strange Darling
• 86% Between the Temples Link to Between the Temples

New TV Tonight

• 100% Slow Horses: Season 4
• 97% English Teacher: Season 1
• -- The Perfect Couple: Season 1
• -- Tell Me Lies: Season 2
• -- Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist: Season 1
• -- Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos: Season 1
• -- Outlast: Season 2
• -- The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 1
• -- Selling Sunset: Season 8
• -- Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season 14

Most Popular TV on RT

• 73% Kaos: Season 1
• 83% The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2
• 88% Terminator Zero: Season 1
• 100% Dark Winds: Season 2
• 95% Only Murders in the Building: Season 4
• 92% Bad Monkey: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

• 97% English Teacher: Season 1 Link to English Teacher: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Venice Film Festival 2024: Movie Scorecard

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Joker: Folie à Deux First Reviews: Joaquin Phoenix Shines Again in ‘Deranged, Exciting, and Deeply Unsettling’ Sequel

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

• Trending on RT
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• Top 10 Box Office
• Venice Film Festival
• Popular Series on Netflix

A Lesson Before Dying Reviews

The remarkable Cheadle, stuck teaching in the same school where he'd first dreamed of escaping from Jim Crow to college, is prevailed on by Cicely Tyson and Irma Hall

Full Review | Feb 5, 2018

This riveting drama stands far above most straight-to-tube efforts; in fact, its many virtues surpass many films that receive theatrical release.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 12, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 7, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2004

What the film lacked was a tension; everything seemed too dry and predictable except for the theme, which was right on the money.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 1, 2000

A Lesson Before Dying (1999 TV Movie)

• User Reviews

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews
• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

A lesson before dying.

Directed by Joseph Sargent

A young man's destiny becomes a teacher's journey.

In the 1940s South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.

Don Cheadle Cicely Tyson Mekhi Phifer Irma P. Hall Brent Jennings Lisa Arrindell Dana Ivey Frank Hoyt Taylor Stuart Culpepper Von Coulter Elijah Kelley Wynton Yates Patty Mack

Director Director

Joseph Sargent

Producer Producer

Robert Benedetti

Writer Writer

Ann Peacock

Original Writer Original Writer

Ernest J. Gaines

Spanky Pictures Ellen M. Krass Productions HBO Films

Releases by Date

22 may 1999, 01 nov 1999, releases by country.

• TV 12 Premiere World
• Theatrical PG-13

101 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by jun ★½ 1

I swear this movie adapted the sparknotes summary of the book

Review by Noel 🦌🍉 ★★

We didn't read the book before watching this but it felt like a condensed story without detail. The entire class went "GYAT!" when we saw Don Cheadle's bare ass. I forgot the rest of the film when the bell rang.

Review by Theodore Herring ★★★

Classic "we watched this in English class" film

Review by Jeff ★★★★

This won Two Emmy's with a total of 7 nominations back in 1999 for Best Made for TV movie and Best writing for a TV Movie. Both well deserved. It also garnered Cheadle and Cicley Tyson acting nominations. I personally would have nominated Irma P. Hall over Tyson but that's just my opinion. Well done on all sides Mekhi Phifer was also really good one of his best performances. Overall just a really good story that has a real human element feel to it. 8/10

Review by VKStudios2 ★★★

Forgot to log this

Review by Ruben Quiroga Kanahuaty ★★★★★

A heartfelt and soulful tearjerker. Incredibly shot. Wonderfully acted. A great film.

Review by PuRock ★★½

I was surprised to see that A Lesson Before Dying only had 3 reviews and 46 ratings on Letterboxd. Especially since it starred Don Cheadle in a leading role. But then again, it didn't surprise me because I too never heard of this film until it was randomly brought up in a conversation.

Then I looked it up and saw that it was TV movie. It certainly didn't feel like a TV movie. But perhaps that's why it snagged a Primetime Emmy award.

What does all my rambling have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing. I just don't really want to talk about the film itself. It's fine. It's fine. Don Cheadle is fine.

Review by DoktorTrottel ★ 1

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

"A lesson before dying" is a movie based on the book with the same name. It is about a young black man called Jefferson that gets involved in a bar shooting and as the only one alive is sentenced to death for no reason. After being called a "hog" in front of the court his godmother wants the teacher Grant Wiggins to visit him in jail and teach him how to be a man. If this sounds boring to you or you already read the book and think it was boring you can be sure that be movie is not much better.

The movie starts off quiet similar to the book and gives the viewer a very good introduction to…

Review by Max ★★★★

FUCKASS ENDING

Review by esmeralda ★★½

did we read the same book

Review by Payson ★★

Not to be one of those guys but imagine if the people who made this actually read the book

Review by brendanegan ★★½

I might be wrong, but this entire film was written by Sparknotes.

Select your preferred backdrop

Select your preferred poster.

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

• TV Listings
• Cast & Crew

A Lesson Before Dying Reviews

• 1 hr 41 mins
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Ernest J. Gaines' bestseller, set in 1940s Louisiana, about an educated African-American (Don Cheadle) who returns to teach and fight racial injustice. Jefferson: Mekhi Phifer. Tante Lou: Cicely Tyson. Miss Emma: Irma P. Hall. Rev. Ambrose: Brent Jennings. Directed by Joseph Sargent.

Reviewed By: Derek Armstrong

It's too much of a lesson to make for great entertainment, but A Lesson Before Dying wasn't made to sell popcorn. In fact, it wasn't even made for the theater. By 1999, cable was the only home for steadfastly earnest movies about soul-searching blacks in the South. Joseph Sargent's film tells an important enough story that it rewards HBO's investment. A Lesson Before Dying wasn't the first nor last such film for Sargent, a prolific TV director, but it did prove a departure for star Don Cheadle, whose previous characters tended to be more unsavory than well-meaning teacher Grant Wiggins. But like his hotel manager in Hotel Rwanda, which would earn Cheadle an Oscar nomination five years later, Wiggins starts out confused, even resentful about his unwitting mission. The film charts both his own growth, and that of the condemned man (Mekhi Phifer), whose self-respect was snatched when his attorney pleaded that executing him would be like executing a hog. The dehumanization of black youths, particularly their abandonment at the hands of the educational system, is rich enough material for a film on its own. But Ann Peacock's adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines' novel is layered enough that it also tackles the divide between light-skinned and dark-skinned blacks, and between the religious and the secular. Grant's unwillingness to be the mouthpiece for the church, when those around him swear it's the only way for the prisoner to find salvation, is the crux of much of the drama. All the performances are effective, but Irma P. Hall is the most moving as the prisoner's life-long caretaker, whom he painfully shuns after his imprisonment.