Servers

A Lesson Before Dying

1999 101 min ★ 5.0 Drama

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.

Director: Joseph Sargent

Cast

Don Cheadle Don Cheadle Grant Wiggins
Cicely Tyson Cicely Tyson Tante Lou
Mekhi Phifer Mekhi Phifer Jefferson
Irma P. Hall Irma P. Hall Miss Emma
Brent Jennings Brent Jennings Reverend Ambrose
Lisa Arrindell Lisa Arrindell Vivian Baptiste
Dana Ivey Dana Ivey Edna Guidry
Frank Hoyt Taylor Frank Hoyt Taylor Sheriff Guidry
Stuart Culpepper Stuart Culpepper Henri Pichot
Von Coulter Von Coulter Farrell Jarreau
Elijah Kelley Elijah Kelley Clarence
Wynton Yates Wynton Yates Louis Washington