A long mile to heaven or hell? (The Green Mile (DVD))

Member Name: bexxie

Product:	The Green Mile (DVD)
Date:	13/03/01 (193 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Suspense,intriguigment and not knowing.

Disadvantages: A bit long!

The Green mile is by far the best film I have sat down to watch in a
Very long time.

Directed by Frank Darabont (and subsequently he is also the screenwriter) this by far has to be one of the best film’s to bring us into Feb 2000.


The film starts with the present day where a very old Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) starts to tell his story of life as an officer on death row.

The film is about a man who is accused of raping and killing two young girls in the year of 1935, South America. This man is John Coffey (the same as coffee but spelt the same, you’ll see what I mean after watching the film) who acted by Clarke Duncan, he is one hulk of a man standing over eight feet tall so you can imagine how easy it is for the officers, people and even us the viewers (at first) to find him immediately guilty.


Bogged down with a urinary infection Edgecombe befriends this unusual man when he cures him of it by placing his hands on his privates (which incidentally made me really laugh) and then goes on to saving a mouse but that can wait.

Coffey has ‘healing hands’ and after time Edgecombe, discovers what a gentle giant Coffey is (but is he?) and finds that Coffey has many advantages to himself which he does willingly to help others.

In the film there are other wonderful people each ambiguous and a little strange but hey this is death row not a holiday camp.

The centre of this film for a while is a pet mouse which another prisoner Del befriends teaching him party tricks and training him
Up until he is tame. There is a despicable prison officer called Percy Wetmore and believe me he lives up to his name on more than one occasion. This Percy is an obnoxious, cruel and evil person who takes the mouse which is now called Mr.Jingles and squashes him flat but this is where Coffey gets to show the other prison guards that he can work his magic by bringing him back to life, thus gettin
g them to trust in him as a person and see him for what he really is?

The whole time the thought of ‘Ol’e Sparky’ (the electric chair) is hanging over Block E, death row and this makes for depressing viewing especially when you have decided who is guilty and who isn’t and this is a bitter pill to swallow.

There are lots of other wonderful things happen in this film and to say them would give away the excellent suspense that keeps you enthralled all the way through. The interesting parts have to be new inmates coming in, this I found really lightened the film and the humour was hilarious bordering on insanity.

There is an amazing twist to this film but I will leave you in suspense there as it really would ruin an amazing film but trust me when I say it will surprise you.

Just one thing I would like to mention and that is look out for a character that Edgecomb visits who is the lawyer of Coffey he has appeared in two films with Hanks already but I wont say what or who just keep your eye’s peeled.

Well if you haven’t already seen this film then please do and if you don’t shed a little tear then you have a heart of stone!

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