Monday, September 21, 2015

It Is Greener On The Other Side

I hated The Green Mile the first time I saw it.  I thought it was slow, mundane and quite boring.  As of this writing, I have now watched it for the second time.  I must have been on something, in a bad mood or something the first time because this truly is a brilliant piece of film-making.

The Green Mile is the story of a man who is accused of child murder.  However, this man also has a gift that no one understands.  This is a heartbreaking, emotional movie that moved me to tears on more than one occasion.  It is a story about treating people with respect, and how bad things unfortunately happen to good people.  The movie also shows us that bad things should happen to bad people, and that more often than not they do not.

Tom Hanks is, without question, one of the greatest actors of all time.  He commands the screen as Paul Edgecomb.  Edgecomb is a man who commands authority and keeps the peace on his block.  He also is able to maintain a wonderful sense of humor whenever an inmate is being disruptive.  The emotion that Hanks conveys when John Coffey reveals the truth to him is incredible.

Frank Darabont is the director of the movie.  What I love so much about what Darabont does with this film is that he shows that these guards on death row are not necessarily proud of what they do for a living.  This really is a cruel world that they live in.  The movie also shows, for Edgecomb in particular, how hard it is to come home to your wife and live a typical life knowing that you have just put a man to death in the electric chair.


The Green Mile is truly a great film with a great cast (including the late Michael Clarke Duncan in an Oscar-nominated role).  I love movies with a message, and this movie does so profoundly.  This movie is an instant classic, and I highly recommend it.

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