Warning to Teamsters: Bring 5 Hankies

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 1999)

I went looking for an experience. Something that would take me to the limits of my own existence and remind me that even in the darkest corner of my own life, there was hope. I was reminded, instead that along with the triumph there must also be sacrifice. A part of me died in that theater, but I walked out feeling renewed, refreshed...and a little cursed.
I think Paul Edgecomb feels the same way.
Tom Hanks has to be the epitome of a Hollywood living legend...and the guy's only in his 40s. He went from scraping his way through sophomoric slap like The 'Burbs, Turner & Hooch, and Bachelor Party to rise up in the 90s as our towering "everyman." Anyone who marvels in his "simple guy in complicated circumstances" roles such as Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan knows that he can deliver the goods...and an Oscar nomination (or win...or two...in a
ROW!!!) But Tom does something very interesting in The Green Mile. He lays back.
The breakout performance in this film goes to Michael Clark Duncan (right now tied with Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osment for my Best Supporting Actor vote). Crippled by his size, Mr. Duncan has a limit of the roles he can play. However, given the role of a child-like behemoth with Christ-like powers of healing, Duncan brings to the screen a performance that will transcend the Denzels and the Poitiers of the world.
The Green Mile is Cell Block E in a Louisiana State Prison, death row. Paul Edgecomb run this wing with compassion, a startlingly different approach considering the legendary cruelty of southern prisons. He is surrounded by men in him employ who all share his philosophy that these men ultimately await the most devastating punishment. Why make their stay any more troubling.
All save one: Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchinson), relative of the Governor and always ready to remind anyone who disagrees his HIS methods just who got him his job. Percy hates everything about The Green Mile; the prisoners, other guards, even a tiny, brave mouse who befriends one of the inmates (Michael Jeter). It isn't until another new inmate is processed, a man they call "Wild Bill", that Percy will meet his equal.
So where is the common thread? What is a messianic character doing on death row? What role will Tom Hanks play in his redemption? And what's this "curse" thing I brought up in the beginning of this review?
If I could tell you, you wouldn't slap the money down on the box office and find it for yourself. Let me just tell you that the final blessings bestowed by John Coffey (Duncan) could make optimists and pessimists alike find a common ground. How you perceive the final moments will be up to how you impart on yourself...and the world.
If John Coffey guilty of his crime? Are the fates of the characters in this film deserved? Half and half. Evil is punished, bu t goodness must bare witness...and that has a price as well. Will Tom Hanks win another Academy Award? He shouldn't. Is this a good film? No. It's an incredible film.
I still weep for Paul Edgecomb.