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The Green Mile
***1/2
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by UIP on March 3, 2000; certificate 18; 182 minutes;
country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Frank Darabont; produced by
Frank Darabont, David Valdes.
Written by Frank Darabont; based on the serialised novel by Stephen
King.
Photographed by David Tattersall; edited by Richard
Francis-Bruce.
CAST.....
Tom Hanks..... Paul Edgecomb
David Morse..... Brutus 'Brutal' Howell
Michael Clarke Duncan..... John Coffey
Bonnie Hunt..... Jan Edgecomb
James Cromwell..... Warden Hal Moores
Michael Jeter..... Eduard 'Del' Delacroix
Graham Greene..... Arlen Bitterbuck
Sam Rockwell..... William 'Wild Bill' Wharton
Doug Hutchison..... Percy Wetmore
Here is a thoroughly absorbing supernatural fairytale
about good and evil living under the same roof. Decent men work with cruel
ones in this movie, and a creature with miraculous healing power winds up
in a place inextricably linked with death. Perhaps that's the most appropriate
place to witness him.
The location is E-block in a 1935 Louisiana prison,
where inmates await the electric chair, and the condemned man's 'last mile'
has been nicknamed 'the green mile' after the lime-coloured linoleum on the
floor. We meet some of the guards: Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), Brutus Howell
(David Morse), Dean Stanton (Barry Pepper), Harry Terwilliger (Jeffrey Demunn),
Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison).
All of these, except for the slimy Percy, who
got his job because of a powerful relative, are good and patient men, who
are firm yet kind to their prisoners. They view their role, correctly, as
being a calming influence on inmates who would be dangerous if they got too
nervy. "Think of this place as like an intensive care ward in a hospital,"
advises Paul.
One of the new guests is John Coffey (Michael
Clarke Duncan), a gigantic black man who has been convicted of the rape-murders
of two young girls, but seems to exude simplicity and goodness, and turns
out to have a very special ability. Other odd plot points creep up and get
a fair bit of attention, such as a urinary infection Paul suffers from, an
unusually talented mouse, and a boorish prisoner named Wharton. We wonder
what significance all these things could possibly have, and then finally
they come together in a climax of moving drama, religious symbolism and clever
epilogue.
My vague descriptions are intentional. "The
Green Mile" does not announce what it is about, but drops little
clues here and there, letting its story unfold carefully, intriguing and
enveloping us with its atmosphere. That is why virtue and depravity are set
at equal levels throughout the film; the conflict is needed to create quietly
gripping tension. And it is exactly how the original Stephen King source
material worked -- slyly revealing the story by taking things slowly, letting
us settle in, earning our care.
King released "The Green Mile" as a novel in six
parts, leaving intervals of several months between instalments, engaging
his public in a guessing game about what direction the material would go
in. Even if you read the whole series at once, as I did, you still felt led
through it slowly, because the author's prose was so delicate and detailed.
The film captures this remarkably well; Frank Darabont, the writer and director,
who previously adapted a King work into the great "Shawshank Redemption",
recognises deliberate pacing as an essential part of this story, and never
falls into the trap of condensing it into a series of meaningless spooky
events.
If only Darabont had bought the rights to Alex
Garland's "The Beach", instead of that hyperactive boor Danny Boyle! The
way he lets "The Green Mile" develop involves us with the intimacy of a good
book. The film is three hours long, but contrary to the opinions of some
critics, extensive length is not the film's problem, but its appeal. We get
so immersed in the routine of life on the 'green mile' that when paranormal
activity starts to happen, we accept it, and are amazed along with the
characters. Audience members prepared to sit still and give the movie a chance
will be handsomely rewarded.
Not that you'd think it from the ads. This week
two brilliant new releases, "The Green Mile" and "Three Kings", have been
so badly misrepresented by their television commercials that many cinema-goers
will be persuaded to stay at home. Darabont's film has been portrayed as
some sort of mawkish sentimental drama, with its scenes of good fable taken
out of context, and made to look like bad attempts at realism. This is a
movie that knows exactly what it's doing, and while it does have its fair
share of tender moments, they're needed to balance out the brutality. One
scene, for example, graphically depicts an execution Percy has rigged to
go wrong, and is one of the most horrifying single moments ever shown on
film -- my hand instinctively jumped to cover my eyes. I was able to remove
it, and look on, but it really means something when a film can trigger
involuntary defensive movements.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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