Frank Darabont, the director of the greatest film ever made (Shawshank Redemption), what more could you ask for.

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2001)

The Green Mile is written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) and based on the six-part serialized novel by Stephen King, narrates the story of Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), the head guard on Death Row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in Louisiana. The Green Mile is narrated by the retired guard in an extended flashback which takes the viewer to 1935.
The Green Mile, a title which relates to the common way of calling the green floor or walkway from the prisoners' cells to the execution chamber, centers on Edgecomb's kind efforts to maintain order and a certain level of peace among the prisoners until each is escorted to the electric chair. However, the irrepressible, sadistic tendencies of guard Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison), whose political connections grant him license to act upon his whims, mock the tranquility that the green mile has come to represent. A symbolic arena that offers a fertile ground for meditation, repentance and redemption, the green mile soon welcomes incoming prisoners: the seven-foot-tall, 330-pound John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), whose evident beast-like strength temporarily blurs his humility and kindness; and the menacing Wild Bill (Sam Rockwell).
Surprisingly The Green Mile shifts its focus from the practical world of Edgecomb to the incredible, supernatural gift of John Coffey, a man who is charged with murdering two girls, but whose "miracles" may clear him of guilt as well as provide a higher sense of order in Cold Mountain. This emergence of hope amidst the dead-end reality of the film's most needy characters produces some sparks. However, althoughThe Green Mile's fantastic elements strive toward reaching an optimism, they fail as the film inevitably falls under the weight of the more solid portrayals of evil, misfortune and injustice. All in all, The Green Mile is the result of the troublesome duality of: 1) the realistic depiction of all that is pessimistic and destructive, and 2) the fantastical portrayal of all that promises a full restoration of the spirit.