Good movie, bad ending....

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2014)

Trying not to write a complete spoiler but it's tough, since the ending is what I want to talk about. I'd say, this is a partial spoiler but not completely!
It took a very long time for me to finally watch this movie because I am such a fan of The Shawshank Redemption. I knew there were plenty of similarities both in subject matter, and people connected to both films.
There's no doubt that I was increasingly on the edge of my seat as the movie progressed, but ultimately, I was deeply disappointed in the ending. Here's my reasoning:
John had suffered so much pain and disappointment in humanity. He was living in a time very different from today when blacks were often scapegoats for the crimes of others. (Much like in To Kill a Mockingbird) He wanted and frankly, was in desperate need of someone to save HIM as he had done for countless others. Here was a man who delighted in the smallest things of nature, of art and music and in the good of humanity. No one would have appreciated a kind act more than him, nor did he need it so desperately. Yes, he was a sensitive soul who absorbed the pain of others. But if you've ever heard this from anyone you love and/or respect and believed they were a powerful force for good in the world, would you just take them at their word that they wanted to die? Of course not! He needed Paul to stand up for HIM. To save HIM, and to speak out at the injustice of executing any man for a crime he did not commit. That would have been the heroic thing to do.
This had an expedient Hollywood ending but it doesn't make one feel a sense of triumph the way Shawshank did. Truth and justice did not will out. I know, I know, that's the way it is sometimes in the real world but clearly the movie was made to make a point, to convey important ideas. I much prefer a film that ultimately has an uplifting message that makes all the pain and horror of watching it worthwhile, at least in the movies!