Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman

Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman tells the story of average joe executioner Albert Pierrepoint (Timothy Spall) who is considered to be one of Britain's most famous career hangmen. Pierrepoint is credited with hanging more than 608 people during a timespan of nearly twenty years (ending in the mid 1950s, a decade or so before the outlawing of capital punishment). He also very famously set records for the fastest execution ever and developed a reputation for being the most diligent worker in his field. This film version of his life is a somewhat rigid but beautifully filmed and performed inspection of Pierrepoint's life and the workings of his psyche.

The crux of the film is its chilling depictions of the contrast between Pierrepoint's life as a husband and neighbor and the brutality of his morbid profession. He walks sweetly through his days living a life unlike anyone else's. He's a respected member of the community and a well-liked friend to many. Then on certain days he's called away to work his other job in which he unflinchingly hangs convicted criminals. It's a film about Pierrepoint specifically, but it also more generally poses the question: what does someone in this line of work think and feel? Pierrepoint's place as one of history's most notable government endorsed deliverers of death makes him a top choice to inspect for clues of the psychological processes of these workers. Throughout the film we see executioners working with different levels of hesitation and remorse but Pierrepoint is stoic and unapologetic without fail. His steely gaze in the face of such hideous circumstances is both eerie and fascinating and uncovering its secrets makes for the best dramatic material in the film. Primarily, Pierrepoint sees himself as merely a facilitator of a government decision. He is not killing these people. The government has already done that. He's just a cog in the machine that gets things done. His conscience is clear and even more interestingly, he bears no sense of judgement for the people he hangs. He does not want to hear the horrible things that they've done and be reassured that they are due this punishment. He simply wants to clock in, do his job, and clock out without complication.

The death as part of the daily grind story makes this riveting up until only a point, though. If the film has a flaw it's that it too efficiently establishes the complex inner workings of Albert Pierrepoint and finds itself stuffing the story with tangents about the hanging of Nazi officers and the burgeoning protests against capital punishment in England. Thankfully, Timothy Spall chews through every subplot with true delicacy and captivating stoicism. It's one of the strongest performances by an actor I've seen anywhere this year and like all the best performances it's a truly understated and hauntingly sincere piece of work. Spall discovers ways to make Pierrepoint both lovable and utterly intimidating. He's a likable fool in the pub and a nearly unrecognizable menace at the gallows.

The film never quite spins a cohesive narrative thread, but Spall's nuanced performance and the subtly chilling dialogue between Pierrepoint and the outside world make this a remarkable movie. It's not a perfect film, but it renders its subject in such an emotionally complex light that it can be forgiven its woes.

Grade: B