A classic - that delves into the question of what if someone truly good was put on death row?

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2012)

This film is one of the best films of all time, as it is completely unexpected and just outstanding. When I first watched this film I was never expecting one of the characters to have some kind of god given power, and even when I've now watched it a few times I still am left mesmerised every time it happens. The emotion in this film is one of its key parts, it utilises the idea of prison and especially death row, to show what people are really like even when they face 'the mile'.
The acting is without parallel in this film with key appearances of Michael Clarke Duncan who plays John Coffey so, so well, he so amazingly simple yet so deep at the same time he is truly a gentle giant, and it is a pleasure to watch. Tom Hanks also plays the head guard of death row extremely well, as he really has all authority and its interesting to see how he plays the role when many others would have become corrupted in such a position. The rest of the inmates all have their own detailed stories, as well as the guards, there is so many different tones in this film. It can really be sen that every kind of person can relate to someone in this film, an thats what makes it so great.
The use of the mouse is also something that must have been amazingly tedious to film but the responsiveness of the animal is something that is rarely seen in other films, so this is again something that makes this film amazing. The film is also long in terms of what we can normally expect for film length, but you don't notice it, I felt it could have gone on for many more hours and I would have enjoyed every minute of it.
The complexity of the relationships between guards and prisoners is also something that perfectly portrayed in this film, the idea that we are all humbled with this idea of our final mile, of what ever it may be for each person. Which leads to my next point about the meaning of this film, that there is so much hatred in this world, even though the characters had done bad things, there was only really one of them who was a truly bad person all the rest were humbled, and it was disgusting to see audiences to the executions cheering for revenge.
A lot of this film also was in what was not said and mere looks of trust were enough to reassure the audience so that we believed the story even though ti is obviously fantasy, but it is made so believable by these connections and outstanding acting.
This film is one of the best films of all time, and should definitely be watched by anyone, more than anything, to make them feel humbled that someone so pure and so good could be killed for something they didn't do, its portrayed so well - definitely a filming great and a classic.