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3 stars (out of four)

Presbyterian minister Carroll Pickett served for 15 years as chaplain at the infamous “Walls” prison in Huntsville, Texas, a state that has sent more than 400 convicts to their deaths by lethal injection, a number unsurpassed in the U.S. Before he retired in 1995, Pickett led an accomplished prison gospel choir and bore witness to 95 executions. “At the Death House Door” is a sobering account of Pickett’s gradual evolution from pro-death penalty minister to a man struggling to reconcile his complicated role in those deaths.

Directed by Peter Gilbert and Steve James, whose credits include 1995’s highly acclaimed “Hoop Dreams,” “At the Death House Door” unfolds in a measured way, its focus less on politics and polemics than on Pickett’s personal journey. When Pickett took the job at the prison, to the chagrin of his wife and family, he was still haunted by the murders of two women in his congregation who worked at Huntsville and  had been taken hostage in a 1974 jailhouse riot. As chaplain, it was Pickett’s job to counsel and calm the inmates as they waited for execution in the “death house.” The purpose was both humanitarian and practical: The prison warden did not want the condemned men putting up a fight as they were strapped to the gurney.  The laconic Pickett never cried or revealed his feelings to his family about his role in the executions. Instead, he recounted his observations into a tape recorder. His second wife, in one of the many understated, eloquent moments in the film, calls the boxes of neatly cataloged cassette tapes her husband’s tears.

The film has two narratives: Pickett’s spiritual journey to anti-death penalty activist and the efforts of Chicago Tribune reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills to uncover compelling evidence that Carlos De Luna, executed at Huntsville in 1989, was innocent. (The film is produced by Kartemquin Films in association with the Chicago Tribune, which provided partial funding.) Pickett thought so too; the confluence of his crisis of conscience with old-fashioned, investigative journalism allows the film to examine questions about justice and morality without seeming didactic. The film often eschews the more traditional story line—the efforts of the reporters and De Luna’s sister to clear his name and expose the injustice—in favor of Pickett’s compelling conversion. But in the end the two narratives complement one another to deliver a low-key but no less impassioned portrait of a quest for truth.

Running time:1:38. Plays Sat.-Wed. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Directors Steve James and Peter Gilbert will be present at the 8 p.m. Saturday premiere. The documentary premieres on  cable’s IFC  May 29. For more information, visit  siskelfilmcenter.com  and  kartemquin.com .

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