Film Studies Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Film Studies - Movie Review Example Thesis Statement: "The Green Mile," is an intermittently powerful and meticulously crafted drama that falls short of its full potential due to considerable over-length and some shopworn, simplistic notions at its center which could have been arranged and prioritized through editing. The story is primarily around an inmate called John Coffey. He is a seven-foot black man who is convicted of raping and killing two small white girls. He is a very quiet man and afraid of the dark: this coupled with his enormous size makes him a very memorable man. John Coffey is not able to do such things as tie a knot, and is described as "knowing his own name and not much else." During the primary period of the story there are two other inmates on the block on which the story concentrates. These are Eduard Delacroix, a french man convicted or arson, rape and murder. Delacrioix has a pet mouse called Mr. Jingles, who is able to perform tricks. The other inmate is William Wharton: a tough and boasting character, claiming to be a modern Billy the Kid. After John Coffey arrives the warders realize that he has a special gift. The captain of the guard, Paul Edgecomb, has a urinary infection, which is causing him extreme discomfort. John Coffey realizes this, and when in distance of Pau l, grabs him and heels him. Paul is naturally flabbergasted by this. John Coffey is set to be executed, and the guards realize they have to execute a man with a "gift from God." John Coffey also has the ability to see people's thoughts or memories. William Wharton grabs Coffey's arm, and Coffey sees Wharton's memory of killing the two little girls that Coffey has been convicted of. Coffey transfers this image to Paul, the chief of the guard. By this Paul knows that Coffey is an innocent man. The warders now realize that they have to execute an innocent man with a "gift from God." Identify one theme or message of the movie. Because The Green Mile is an anti-capital punishment exemplum, characters are defined morally in the simplest terms. The director emphasizes the fundamental humanity of the two men who are the first to be executed, Arlen Bitterbuck and Eduard Delacroix. While Frank Darabont tells the audience that the two men are murderers, he shows them speaking and acting with such dignity, love, and simple faith that one perceives their executions as evil, unnatural acts. On three occasions we see the procedure involved in administering death by electrocution, a witnessed event in which certain words are spoken, restraints are attached to the victim, and levers are pulled. It is at this point that we grasp the analogy of the quintessential victim of the death penalty of all time -- someone who performed miracles, who was condemned of something that he did not do, and who forgave those whose interpersonal relations are based on hate rather than love. Analyze one element of film analysis Within individual scenes, Richard Francis-Bruce's editing is precise in obtaining maximum values however there are scenes which could have been edited further. All of the performances, from the leads down through David Morse's laconic prison guard, Doug Hutchison's hateful and mulish one, and Bonnie Hunt's