"The Green Mile" is an underrated work of art about the characteristics of fantasy and reality.

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2014)

Frank Darabont five years after the classic "Shawshanke Redemption" creates another prison drama that is a balance between the real world and fantasy. With Tom Hanks being the lead, you already know your off to a terrific start. Hanks plays Paul Edgecomb, a warden at a Louisiana prison in the 1930's who stumbles upon a new prisoner, John Coffey, who changes his life forever. Coffey is a huge African-American man who is accused of raping and murdering two young girls. We get to see extremely powerful flashbacks of the victims family searching around their land for their daughters, who eventually find Coffey holding the dead girls while screaming his head off. Michael Clark Duncan plays John Coffey amazingly, and in this scene in particular you will find one of the greatest scenes in acting history from this talented artist. Paul and John end up forming a relationship, causing Paul to find out that John has special healing powers and that he is in fact innocent. The story turns into a portrayal of honesty, trust, and chance. There's so much more conflict going on inside the prison that you won't be lost for a second. We have Percy, a cruel prison guard causing tension around the prison, many other prisoners and executions and a crazy prisoner that brings up a lot of questioning. Frank Darabont has proved to us that he is the master at making prison films. "The Green Mile" is a powerful film with tremendous acting and a very original story. I love how we get a great background of every character and every event shaped without spoiling the big mysteries and climaxes the film has. The balance between murder mystery and natural human emotions and motifs from these profound characters builds a perfect bond of mystery and compassion. Two other elements that are calculated well are the separation between fantasy and reality. We get an overwhelmingly natural portrayal of a prison from the 30's and natural characters played perfectly by each actor to give a realistic tone to the film, and yet we get a man who's basically as superhero that works to fight with the struggles of a tough, realistic situation. "The Green Mile" is a film that brings up a lot about how to better enjoy life and how experiences from the past can stay with us forever. An absolute terrific film!