The Green Mile

THE GREEN MILE

Rating: B-
The "green mile" of the title refers to a long stretch of corridor with pale green flooring which runs down the middle of the prison's death row. The cells on either side are occupied by inmates condemned to execution, such that the walk from their cell to the electric chair represents the final "mile" of their lives. There they sit in their cells, day after day, with the conclusion of their life's journey visible before them down at the far end of the hall.

It is in this environment that Tom Hanks and his fellow prison guards must spend all their working hours. If nothing else, the film makes you realize how depressing such a job must be. By the time Hanks meets an inmate, the courts have already held the trials, heard all the evidence, and passed their judgement. All the sound and fury is over, and no matter what Hanks may think of a prisoner's guilt or innocence, there is nothing he nor his comrades can do but carry out the sentence. Against this background of unspoken despair, a new prisoner (Michael Clarke Duncan) arrives one day, and Hanks and the others soon begin to suspect there is something supernatural about him.

In addition to being overly maudlin, the main problem with the film's script is the lack of depth it allows its characters. The people are either purely good, or purely evil. While some viewers may appreciate this (at least they know who to root for), I always find such two-dimensional characterizations too simplistic to be believable. Also, some of the plot events don't stand up to logical scrutiny. When a series of contrived events results in one of the all-bad characters meeting an untimely end, you feel like shouting,"Dude, he was on death row anyway! Why did you bother?"

Where this film succeeds is in its detailing of the daily interactions of the characters along the row. The guards must constantly tread the fine line between acknowledging the prisoners' humanity and at the same time keeping them at an emotional distance, and writer/director Frank Darabont successfully concocts scenes which highlight this conflict. In one of the more memorable, a prisoner scheduled to die soon is led away from the cell block under false pretenses so that Hanks and company can rehearse his execution. In another, the guards and a prisoner discuss finding a home for his pet mouse after he's put to death.

Like Saving Private Ryan, this film is told within a "bookend" format - there are opening and closing sequences of a main character as an elderly person relating the story in flashback. In the case of The Green Mile, that character is supposed to be Tom Hanks all grow'd up, but the actor chosen must have won a nationwide search to find the person who looks the least like Tom Hanks. The opening sequence accomplishes little more than to send up warning flags to the viewer that the pacing to come won't be setting any land speed records. The final sequence attempts to make a profound connection between the "green mile" of the story and everyone's journey through life, but the allusion comes way too late in the film and seems tacked on as a weak afterthought. When the elderly Hanks character bemoans the fact that his life seems to be dragging on and on, the audience is thinking the same thing about the scene itself. At least in Saving Private Ryan we could ignore the ponderous dialogue and stare at the curvaceous blonde in the background; here we don't even get that choice.