Friday, April 11, 2003

The Green Mile Is a Journey Worth Making

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.