A good book adaptation and a very interesting biblical allegory.

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2000)

Firstly I must say that I was quite sceptical before actually seeing this film. It enjoyed a huge hype and everyone was raving about it which generally is bad news in my opinion. I was however pleasantly surprised. On a basic level of a book adaptation the film was wonderfully true to the story and didn't detract from the suspense of the book.

As we all know Stephen King adaptations are either gems or stinkers, there is no middle way. This fortunately fell into the gem category.
I myself am not religious but since I was brought up as a catholic it was hard to miss the biblical relevance of this film. It seemed to go a little further than the bible because it actually spells out to us what purgatory and hell are like and what heaven is supposed to be like. These are of course life and death respectively. The ones that die are the lucky ones. There is of course the obligatory element of the struggle between good and evil where satan (wild bill) is defeated by christ (john coffey). Even the initials seem to be so chosen as to make even the dimmest of viewers realise the allegorical aspect.
And of course the judeo-christian aspect of 'eye for an eye' is present as well in the shape of Percy Wetmore.
This movie not only goes a little further than the bible it also questions one of its most important 'truths', namely it states that death equals heaven unlike the traditional view that life equals heaven. For that questioning only this film becomes much more valuable.
I would definately recommend anyone to see it. If you've only read the book up till now do not be afraid of seeing the film and being disappointed, you won't be.
As to many complaints that the film is to long I would like someone to point out which scenes should be cut.... This is a movie where unlike in many 90 minute movies there are no embellishing subplots. Every single scene falls into place at one point of the movie or other. This ranges from Paul's urinary tract infection to Mr.Jingles and the cornbread baked by Mrs.Edgecomb.