One movie that has intrigued me since I first heard of it is The Green Mile.
A couple years ago, my aunt gave me a copy of it, but we never got
around to watching it because of its length and its probably gruesome
(because of the author) and depressing (because of the subject matter)
nature. Last week, we finally decided to watch it. It was worth the
wait.
The movie is adapted from Steven King’s best-selling
serial novel about an old man and his memories of an extraordinary
experience as a Death Row prison guard. I have not read the book yet, so
I cannot personally comment on how well it translated to the screen,
but my dad, who has read it, says it stays remarkably true to the book.
Steven King himself said that most movies are not as good as the book
but that this one is. I have seen snippets of many Steven King movies,
and The Green Mile strikes me as much better cinema than most I
have seen. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is one of the best
movies, period, I have ever seen.
The film is framed by the
recollections of Paul Edgecomb, an elderly gentleman with a penchant for
taking long walks into the forest beyond the nursing home where he
resides. After one such walk, Paul returns to the common room, where a
Fred Estaire movie sparks the memory of a story he has kept untold for
60 years.
The bulk of the movie is set in the past, where Paul
(Tom Hanks) is in charge of a ward of inmates on Death Row at Cold
Mountain Penitentiary. Along with his fellow prison guards, most notably
Brutus (David Morse), a gentle man known by the ironic nickname Brutal,
Paul runs his ward with care, treating the prisoners with dignity and
keeping the peace. So many prison movies feature cruel and corrupt
prison officials, and it is refreshing in this film to see a group of
genuinely good people running this penitentiary. The one exception to
the stellar staff is Percy (Doug Hutchinson), a sniveling sadist who job
at the prison rests solely on his family connections. He is universally
disliked, and rightly so. At the start of the film, with three
prisoners on Death Row, he is by far the most vicious of the bunch.
The arrival of John Coffey (Michael Clark Duncan) causes nervousness
among the prison guards. The man is a giant, convicted of an especially
brutal murder. As the film progresses, however, John’s guilt is called
into question as Paul and the others bear witness to the man’s empathy,
the intensity of which has the capacity to heal others while harming
himself. By the film’s conclusion, no character who has encountered John
is left unchanged, for better or for worse, and Paul feels John’s
legacy in a particularly powerful and personal way.
The cast
in this movie is absolutely outstanding. First, of course, is Tom Hanks,
the main character. America’s favorite actor, the perennial nice guy,
turns in what may be his most moving performance next to Forrest Gump.
As Paul, he a consummate professional, dedicated to his work and
unnerved by John’s effect on him. He is clearly a very moral man, a
compassionate soul who derives no pleasure in the execution of his
prisoners.
Morse puts forth a fine portrayal of Brutal, who is
of similar disposition. He is perhaps governed more by his emotions
than Paul; the executions seem especially difficult for him, and the
only time he displays anything approaching brutality is when lashing out
against Percy. His compassion brings extra potency to his passion when
Percy does something especially malicious to someone he cares about.
Hutchinson turns in a truly vile performance as one of the most
despicable characters to hit the big screen. Percy is pure malice
coupled with cowardice. Whenever he is in a position to inflict pain on
an individual who cannot fight back, he does so, but he shies away from
any situation that might cause him harm. Percy is one of the film two
true villains, and he asserts the depths of his sadism in two especially
heartbreaking scenes.
James Cromwell plays the straightman
warden whose wife is suffering from a brain tumor. He is unaware of much
of what goes on in Paul’s ward, but when he witnesses the John’s
mysterious powers in action, his response is especially moving.
Duncan rightly received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in The Green Mile.
He looks as though the movie were written with him specifically in
mind. He imbues John with an overwhelming sense of benevolence. A gentle
giant with a dull mind but a golden heart, he views the world through
childlike eyes and is always more concerned about the welfare of others
than his own. Steven King often delineates clearly between good and
evil, and in a film full of good characters, John is the personification
of good.
Of all the characters, perhaps the one I enjoyed the
most was inmate Eduard Delacroix, or Del (Michael Jeter). The movie
does not go into much detail regarding the crime he committed, but there
is no question that he is guilty. However, it is difficult to imagine
the mild-mannered Cajun doing such a vile deed. It is as though all of
the viciousness in him was concentrated into that one moment and after
the murder left him almost entirely. He does take a certain delight in
seeing Percy belittled, but this is because Percy is so consistently
cruel to him. Through Del, one of the film’s most important characters
is given voice. Mr. Jingles, a mouse living on the Mile, decides to take
up residency with Del, bringing the man a joy he has not felt for many
years. Although he is a murderer, Del is a very sympathetic character.
His devotion to Mr. Jingles brings out the best in his character, and he
is at the center of one of the most devastating sequences in the film.
Incidentally, the day after watching this movie, I found out that Jeter
had died over the weekend. Whether as the goofball Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street, the kindly math instructor on Sister Act , or the sympathetic murderer in this film, he brought a joy to his characters and will be missed.
The Green Mile
is a beautiful and thought-provoking film. I happen to be against
capital punishment, and seeing this movie only strengthened my opinion
on that matter. It is a story of redemption and of compassion, bringing
humanity to a place one might think more cold and uncaring than most.
The film is rated R for good reason, as it contains liberal amounts of
profanity and several violent scenes. Two segments of the movie are so
prolonged and grotesque that I had to leave the room. Another is
shockingly brief, a violent staccato that caught me completely off guard
and left me bellowing at the television in anguish, but it sets up one
of the most moving scenes in the film.
All told, The Green Mile
is a brilliantly executed endeavor that is worth the three hours and
ten minutes it takes to view it. I am sure it will be equally worth the
time it will take to read the book. I certainly will be investing that
time in the near future, and then I will be able to confirm the mastery
of this adaptation. But book or no book, The Green Mile is a powerful film that should not be missed.
