The Payoff From ‘Green Mile’ Is More Than Satisfying

Frank Darabont’s maiden voyage as writer-director, The Shawshank Redemption, earned seven Oscar nominations, including a nod for Best Picture. This year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences laid a repeat on him when they announced that his sophomore effort, The Green Mile, will be competing for Best Picture. Now playing — and still in the top ten after more than ten weeks in release — with its straightforward narrative and ungaudy approach, feels a bit old-fashioned coming in the year of The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, Being John Malkovich and Magnolia, but is no less gripping for it.

Set in 1935, though a framing sequence takes place in the modern-day world, The Green Mile tells of a cellblock at a Louisiana penitentiary which houses prisoners destined for the electric chair. The title of the movie refers to the turf-colored tiling that gilds the path leading to the final end for these inmates. Overseeing E Block and all its goings-on is prison guard Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), a kind-hearted leader who runs his ward with a gentleness that goes against the grain of expected treatment for such convicted criminals. His team of assistants, led by his right-hand man (David Morse), ably follow his lead, save for one rogue, sadistic newcomer, Percy (Doug Hutchison), who torments and antagonizes the prisoners but remains on the team because he’s the governor’s nephew-in-law.

The dynamics of E Block change when its newest prisoner, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), is introduced. A towering black man convicted of raping and murdering two young girls, Coffey is surprisingly afraid of the dark and seemingly incapable of hurting even the smallest insect. Things become even more complicated when he exhibits a kind of supernatural power (his first miracle is healing the ailing Edgecomb of a painful urinary tract infection) that spurs his jailors to begin wondering if this man is truly guilty of the charges leveled against him.

The Green Mile contrasts the outward meanness and callousness of guard Percy with the quieter, less aggressive personas of the prisoners (aside from Duncan, these men are played by Michael Jeter and Graham Greene). The film comments on the potential evil of man and how it may not always come in the most expected forms. While it’s hard to imagine Duncan’s, Jeter’s or Greene’s characters committing any kind of malice, the movie also includes a wild inmate (Sam Rockwell) whose villainy is obvious from his violent demeanor to his venomous, foul speech. Between this vicious prisoner, the despicable Percy, and the ambiguity of the others, one wonders if Edgecomb and his mates will be able to retain their nobility.

Clocking in at just over three hours, Darabont’s drama isn’t exactly epic — its carefully modulated pace disguises itself in a languor that later reveals a very passionate core (a trait it shares with Shawshank, a film that has been known to make grown men weep. But then, despite its hefty running time, you begin to realize The Green Mile doesn’t wish to be grand in scale (after all, a majority of its action takes place within a sole cellblock), but grand in emotion, where it delivers most emphatically.

Key to the film’s ability to generate strong feelings is its outstanding ensemble work. Hanks, whose effervescent portrayals of decency have drawn comparisons to Jimmy Stewart, is edging out Harrison Ford as America’s favorite good guy, yet most impressive here is the room in which he gives his fellow actors to shine, thus making The Green Mile all the more effective. Morse is bedrock-solid as Edgecomb’s best friend, Bonnie Hunt gives a warm and modulated performance as Edgecomb’s wife, and Hutchison delivers wonderfully as the sinuous Percy (an appropriate follow-up to his previous work as a shifty mutant on The X-Files). Key to it all is Duncan, whose touching and effective portrayal of the enigmatic giant has been rewarded with a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

The Green Mile, rated R for intense electrocution scenes, profanity and adult subject matter, proves to be an engrossing tale that takes its time to get to its emotional crescendos, but when it does, the payoff is more than satisfying.