Punishing.

Rating: 3/10 (17 June 2012)

Excellent movie for those who relish suffering; both when watching it and from feeling empathetic pain themselves. Very suitable for either sadists or masochists, and all people who feel a strong need to cry. Brought to you by the same team that created The Shawshank Redemption, of which it is the obverse. Something like the Passion of the Christ. Shawshank described how one man beat the U.S. system, all on his own, and escaped injustice to freedom. It was almost plausible, and positively upbeat. The Green Mile describes how the U.S. system crushes innocence and saintliness, as well as how (some of) the guilty are made to pay for their sins. To be perfectly honest, it is messy. It doesn't make you feel good, and it's a sort of a snuff movie, apparently designed to make you a little sick. If you're normal.
It is also completely implausible, and contains any amount of utterly ridiculous miracle-working, some involving the healing of peculiarly repulsive ailments, as well as a gaggle of exceptionally talented circus mice. Presumably this is in homage to Steinbeck's "Mice and Men". The leading character, Hanks, is inexplicably condemned to immortality, although, at 108, and not looking much like his earlier self, the impression is that he's only got about another 5 years to go, at most. Perhaps because the subject-matter was so dippy and off-putting, I kept getting distracted. How did they manage to make an actor, who is in fact a mere 6 ft 5 inches tall, unconvincingly look as though he were eight foot? I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the photographic trickery, and noting how and when it didn't quite work, just like I did with Malkovich, in "Of Mice and Men". I also found myself frequently looking at the time, and wondering how much longer there was to go.
There may be an anti-capital punishment message involved, but the only miracle in connection with this movie is how it gets to #71 in the top 250. Watch Top Hat, instead.