Thought Provoking

My new post is a film review for The Green Mile....

It is the 1930’s and Paul Edgecomb works in a prison, he is in charge of death row which is a hard job to have and takes its toll on him. He sees men coming in and he and his team are faced with keeping them until their time for the electric chair comes. Paul has a hard job as he sees how sad these men are knowing what is coming and he does find it a hard job. Paul’s life is about to be turned around though when a new prisoner comes in.

John Coffey is a very large black man who is on death row as he is believed to have killed to little girls. Paul instantly feels he did not do it and rather likes John. Paul is about to have a massive shock when he gets ill from a urine infection and when John touches him he takes the pain and virus away. Paul does not talk about this to anyone but his wife and tries to find out about John’s past. His investigations lead him to a dead end but he does not give up.

Can Paul discover just what power John has and will this change his fate or will John go the same way as the other men on Death Row?

I have looked at this film over the years and never really fancied it but when I spotted the DVD for the bargain price of £2 I decided to give it a go. I thought from the cover of the DVD and the appearance of Tom, Hanks that it was going to be connected to the military but how wrong was I. I did actually enjoy the story and felt it was touched up in a very emotional and powerful way. I thought it was an original idea and I know this is based on a book but as I have not read the book I cannot make comment on how well or badly this has been transferred to the screen. The short plot outline which I have given really is only a basic one, we have other smaller side stories happening involving some of the other prisoners and guards but I felt that these are best left to be discovered by watching the film. I did enjoy the inclusion of these as they gave some depth to the film and overall story.

The acting for me was superb. Tom Hanks played the lead role of Paul and he did an excellent job. We got to know just enough about him to understand his mind and how he though about things and I enjoyed seeing a bit of his personal life as well. He was hard and strong for the majority of the film but I also liked the softer more sensitive side which did come out. I felt he did justice to the role he way playing and showed what a hard job he had. He formed a wonderful connection with John and even though John was a prisoner I felt they formed a good friendship. John was played by Michael Clark Duncan, I have to confess that the only other film I know him from is the role of Bear in Armageddon and I did not know what to expect from him. He gave the best performance of the film for me and I had so many different emotions forming from his performance. He looked quite dumb and sad for the majority of the film and as if he was suffering. When he spoke I felt sadness and loss from him but there were times when he showed a little strength and he did give me one or two small chuckles. He looked powerful and intimidating but he did not come across this way when he spoke or talked to Paul.

We had some very good support actors and I felt they too all played very good role, some of the actors included, David Morse, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter and Sam Rockwell, they were all very different role, some stronger and louder than the other but they all bought some magic to the story in their own different ways.

There was really only two settings in this film for the majority of it, we had the green mile, the wing of the prison where the prisoners on death row had their cells and the room with the electric chair. I found the settings to be good and thought the way of life for them back in the 30’s was shown well. I found it looked and fitted the era and the lack of technology and moderness of it all was shown in a good way. We did get one or two outside shots and these were a good little relief from the other settings. I thought the costumes were also good and in keeping with the theme and year of the film.

There were a few places in the film where I did have to look away as they were stomach turning and a little scary for me, I must confess though that I am a wimp! I though the parts when the prisoners were being placed in the electric chair were unsettling and also some of the things which John did turned my stomach. The DVD claims that there is some horror in the film and although I felt quite jumpy at parts O would not class them as horror. There are some brutal parts involving people dying but they are not overly gruesome or bad. We do have some swearing in the film and so the 18 rate which this has is one which I agree with, I also think a younger audience will not truly be able to follow this story. The one downside to this film is the run time, it is 181 minutes long, I do think this will put a few people off from watching but I have to say once we got into the story I lost track of the time and never felt as if it had been going on forever, I think it could have lost about 30-40 and still have been as powerful as it was.

I did think the ending was very powerful and it did actually reduce me to tears and this is where I would have liked the film to end. At the very start we see Paul when he is an elderly man in a nursing home and we return to this point at the very end of the film. Both me and hubby felt this was taking it a little far and making it a little far fetched with what he told us, I would have liked this to have been left out of the film. I did enjoy seeing one certain little member of the cast again.

I have stated that I bought the DVD for just £2 but as I have not watched the bonus features on it then I am classing this review as a film only one. The DVD does range in price depending on where you shop for it so make sure you too get a good bargain like I did.

I am more than happy to give this film the full 5 stars and a very high recommendation as it was an amazing film. The story was excellent and not only was it sad and emotional but we had a few good little fun parts which gave us some light relief, the acting from all involved was powerful and strong and I think this film should be watched by all over the age of 18 despite the running time as it has had a very powerful effect on me and I do still keep thinking back to the ending even a week after watching it.