A Powerful and Remarkable Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2004)

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** "The Green Mile" delves into the world of the human soul and powerful emotion more than practically any film I have yet to see, and it works brilliantly as a somber, delightful, bewildering, and lamentable study of the discovery of the human spirit through human connection. Hanks plays a prison guard presiding over a death row commission who initially performs his duties as an officer and has few compunctions about his role in terminating convicted death row mates. That is, until the day a miracle and a leviathon of a man by the name of John Coffey enters the prison for unknown circumstances and enters Hanks' stream of consciousness as well as his responsibilities. Coffey isn't like any other hostile prisoner Edgecomb (Hanks) has ever seen or known, for he has phenomenal, miraculous abilities, and completely reforms the prison for the lighter and the better for both the guards and the inmates, and provides the ultimate wonder and importance to the story: miracles can happen in the most unlikeliest of places and affect everybody and everything, in this case, the penitentiary where Coffey is (wrongfully) confined as well as the unjust, ignorant prison system which rendered him a death sentence for a brutal, heinous murder. The acting throughout the film is nothing short of passionate, human, and touching: Michael Jeter is superbly human and engaging as Del, and Michael Clarke Duncan is amazingly genuine as John Coffey, both actors clearly outshining the low-key Tom Hanks in an absolute rarity wherever Hanks is concerned. The atmosphere given, is ultimately sorrowful and depressing, and is scarcely uplifting in its somber tone, yet it is much, much more substantial than a random tearjerker: the audience actually feels the characters and the scenarios which befall them, and it's not simply the women who will be emotionally affected, but I defy anyone who watches, in particular, the scenes of the executions, and not shed a single tear in grief and sorrow. It is curious and perhaps deceptive for the film to not reveal the nature of the inmates' sentences: of course, then again we would like to assume a character as genial and benign as Del is as he is portrayed, rather than being a deranged, ruthless killer or whatever his action for ending up on death row, might detract of him. There are many curious symbols in the film which are delightful and relevant to the film's theme: the mouse ("Mr. Jingles") provides hope and inspiration to the imprisoned men and eventually to Edgecomb himself, the arrogant, beleaguering "Percy" is clearly a corrupt and unworthy possessor of undeserved power and authority, and Coffey (including his mystifying touches) is the miracle of the story, providing relief, resilience, and recovery to a problematic system and the troubled nature of life. The film succeeds with passionately and humanly in its direction (the director behind "The Shawshank Redemption" has been robbed too many times from acclamation), acting (practically every character shines and contributes enormous wealth to the story and the film), and screenplay (some of the most heartfelt and memorable exchanges in film history include, "I tried to take it back, Boss" (Coffey) and "I just can't see God putting a gift like that in the hands of a man who would kill a child" (Edgecomb)... timeless. "The Green Mile" ranks as one of the most effective, genuine, and wonderful experiences you'll ever be rewarded in film, especially in today's perfunctory approach to the human spirit and emotion running rampant throughout Hollywood, where such concentration is plenty appreciated in this excellent film. **** out of ****