The Green Mile

Despite seeing The Green Mile a few years ago, when I rewatched the DVD version I was struck by just how much I had forgotten, and just how surprising some of the plot twists and turns are. Set on the death row of a prison in some sweaty southern state, the plot revolves around the final days of residents and, particularly, simple-minded giant John Coffey, on the Green Mile - the more pleasant name for this jail's execution holding cells.

Michael Clarke Duncan more than earned his Academy nomination (best supporting actor) for his potrayal of Coffey but there is no single star to this movie. Sure, Tom Hanks, as prison guard Paul Edgecomb, is the draw and the name on the poster but the true strength of this film is the ensemble cast. There is a synergy and the spark of a well running machine about this movie. The supernatural element does not appear until an hour in, when we are already beguiled, thinking this is a simple prison tale - a very well-executed sharp left turn. Then the humanitarian question becomes paramount as Hanks asks what should he tell God about the execution? That it was his job?

This is both a wonderful story and a superb adaptation. Director Frank Darabont has excelled himself in the narrow niche of 'Historical Stephen King Prison Films,' ( He was also writer/director of The Shawshank Redemption) with this radically different tale. The cinematography is flawless which is no less than is to be expected with the team of DOP David Tattersall and designer Terence Marsh (who cut his teeth on Lawrence of Arabia).

The film has a lot of special effects but with the exception of the 'Bugs' they are all invisible, seamlessly integrated, as they should be, kudos the specia-effects supremos. If I had to offer a criticism it would be that one soft focus scene with the governor's wife puts "sugar on the jam", rendering it almost saccharine. But that is a tiny criticism and I had to look hard to come up with that. An almost perfect picture - if you haven't seen it, why not? With this new two-disc DVD edition you have no excuse.