The Green Mile
Review by Hank Cochrane

Written and directed by Frank Darabont; based on the novel by Stephen King; Running time: 180 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Tom Hanks (Paul Edgecomb), David Morse (Brutus Howell), Bonnie Hunt (Jan Edgecomb), Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey), James Cromwell (Warden Hal Moores), Michael Jeter (Eduard Delacroix), Graham Greene (Arlen Bitterbuck), Doug Hutchison (Percy Wetmore), Sam Rockwell (Wild Bill Wharton), Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton), Jeffrey DeMunn (Harry Terwilliger), Patricia Clarkson (Melinda Moores) and Harry Dean Stanton (Toot-Toot).

Frank (Shawshank Redemption) Darabont’s The Green Mile, based on the novel by Stephen King, is an emotionally gripping, well-acted supernatural drama with some fascinating ideas.  But the screenplay is so heavy-handed and didactic that it is overtly condescending, even if only inadvertently so. At one point, a bit of cosmic justice is gratuitously dolled out against prison Guard Percy Wetmore (a spoiled brat of a man) and inmate Wild Bill Wharton (who is just about the most petulant little prick of an inmate ever to happen across death row). To be sure, their deaths are viscerally satisfying, but the purposely flip, black and white nature of such justice does nothing to advance the vision of a film that wants its message to be taken seriously.

Perhaps the problem lies in the filmmaker’s ambition. And Darabont’s vision is huge. He takes as his themes: the meaning of life, the necessary reverence for it as a miracle, and the presence of the Divine in the natural world.  Where Darabont does succeed in his attempt to articulate such grand vision is in his ability to communicate to his audience an enthralling sense of wonder, and the beauty of divine mystery. And his success is often magic.

But even while the film thinks big, the story itself is simple--and one would think that such a simple story could be told with more economy.  Indeed, The Green Mile often seems like a nearly endless road to eternity paved with the best of intentions. Too many of the film’s several executions are given enormous weight, complete with speeches about repentance and redemption, as if each one is central to the story. They are not. The filmmaker seems to have wanted to give each prisoner his say as way of developing the narrative in different directions. But the emotional appeal and eloquence of each executed prisoner feels manipulative and you get it again and again.

The real story of The Green Mile is the way that life is changed when the enormous black inmate, John Coffey (Michael Clark Duncan), arrives on death row. Coffey is the pivotal character. He brings the guards and other inmates on the Green Mile (so called because of the green color of the floor that makes the path toward “Old Sparky,” the electric chair) a sense of joy and healing--both figurative and literal--even while he himself is a manifest of heartbreak and sadness.  John Coffey possesses both the ability to heal, and to peer into the secret heart of men. And indeed there is much hatred and heartache there. (Obviously, much of the Christ-figure is present here.)  John Coffey is himself a simpleton of a man who has been convicted for the murder and rape of two young girls.

 He is the accused gentle giant, whose gentleness and size of character are transparently delineated, especially through Mr. Coffey’s relationship with a mouse that he resurrects like Lazarus from the dead at one point. The mouse Mr. Jingles (so named) becomes central to the storytelling, but never central to the real story and so is an overly cute character and storytelling device.

The film’s ambition does have its merits, and it is gorgeously shot. From the opening image of a 108-year-old man’s eyes on his face, the close-ups and images prove interesting and add mood to the film. The cinematographer never seems to strain for effect. Each one of the actors turns in a terrific performance. Tom Hanks (as Paul Edgcomb) follows up his performance in Saving Private Ryan with yet another great performance. Once again, Hanks establishes himself as an actor whose talent takes him and carries us to places further and deeper than any number of lesser talents (who rely on charisma and charm alone) could ever hope to delve. In the end, I think it is Darabont and perhaps King who have pulled too many storytelling strings. The movie, while engaging us with fascinating ideas, pummels us into submission with two enormously heavy hands.

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