A MAN who is a leading opponent of the death penalty sits on Death Row awaiting his doom in the form of a lethal injection.

He invites a journalist in to hear his story just hours before he is supposed to be killed.

What develops thereafter is as perfect a thriller as you are likely to see for a good long while.

The prisoner David Gale, (Kevin Spacey), pours his heart out to journalist Bitsey Bloom, (Kate Winslet), who soon realises that with her interviewee accused of raping and murdering a fellow activist, she is involved in something far bigger than she could ever have imagined.

What follows is a race against time, with Bitsey first desperate to break the key to the murder mystery and then to act to save a man's life.

Everyone delivers a mighty powerful performance. Some of the most memorable lines are spoken by murder victim Constance Harroway, (Laura Linney), when she is addressing a rally of others opposed to the death sentence.

With a voice cracking with emotion, but powered by eloquence she sums up its futility perfectly.

Her speech is just a small measure of the intensity of a film, which has the capacity to leave the viewer almost torn in two.

SCC