A Lesson Before Dying (1999)

  • PG-13
  • 05/22/1999 (US)
  • Drama
  • 1h 41m

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

Overview

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.

Ernest J. Gaines

Novel

Joseph Sargent

Director

Cast

Don Cheadle's headshot

Don Cheadle

Grant Wiggins
Cicely Tyson's headshot

Cicely Tyson

Tante Lou
Mekhi Phifer's headshot

Mekhi Phifer

Jefferson
Irma P. Hall's headshot

Irma P. Hall

Miss Emma
Brent Jennings's headshot

Brent Jennings

Reverend Ambrose
Lisa Arrindell's headshot

Lisa Arrindell

Vivian Baptiste
Dana Ivey's headshot

Dana Ivey

Edna Guidry
Frank Hoyt Taylor's headshot

Frank Hoyt Taylor

Sheriff Guidry

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