Beyond Reason
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Marijke Jongbloed
Gea Knol
Bryan Jennings
Bart Stapert
Margaret Danna
Greetje Bijma
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Follows Gea Knol from Holland to Starke, Florida where she meets her 17-year correspondent Bryan Jennings--an inmate on death row for more than 20 years. Gea began writing to Bryan out of what she calls her Florence Nightingale syndrome, but their friendship provided security and love on both sides of the Atlantic. Having decided to publish their letters, Gea meets with Bryan to confront the one issue they have never written on, namely why Bryan ended up on death row. She engages fellow countryman Bart Stapert of New Orleans as a lawyer to fight to have the sentence commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and begins her investigation to help him.
The discoveries she makes about Bryan's crime challenge her friendship and ethics, but she faces up to what she has not wanted to read between the lines. Gea also introduces us to activists working against the death penalty in Florida, as well as the wives of men sitting on death row. Bryan Jennings emerges as a man of great charisma and even integrity, while the culture which surrounds him becomes increasingly alarming. The emotional grit of the death penalty hits home, as does the irrationality of the law which works against the possibility of showing true remorse.
Director
Marijke Jongbloed
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Beta SP video
Shown at Sydney Film Festival June 9-23, 2000.
Shown at Vancouver International Film Festival September 22 - October 5, 2000.
color
dialogue Dutch and English
