A lesson before dying

In a lesson before dying which was directed by Joseph Sargent the story takes place in the 1940’s rural south were a white store owner is murdered and robbed and a innocent black bystander named Jefferson is wrongly convicted and charged with murder. Grant the local teacher is asked to teach Jefferson to read and write before he dies so he can be a man. After getting permission from the deputy Grant helps Jefferson to be educated and they form a close bond. Grant becomes conflicted about his place in life and the roles he will as Jefferson’s soon execution comes forward. I really liked this film it captured the essence of what life was like pre-civil rights, this director mainly focused on the story more than anything else classifying as a writer/director. There were many close up angles in this film that caught the true emotion of each scene. Production and design was very much old south, with the slacks and button up shits, and agriculture life of all shacks and cattle. A lesson before dying was mainly based of the book by Ernest J Gaines making it an adaptation. Based on both reading the book and watching the film I would say the book had more detail but the film unlike most adaptations really stuck to the storyline.