`Map’ centers on Weaver performance

In theaters

MAP OF THE WORLD. Directed by Scott Elliott, written by Peter Hedges and Polly Platt, based on the novel by Jane Hamilton. 125 minutes, R. Starts Friday, June 16, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

As a woman who feels responsible for the death of one child and who is persecuted by her community for the molestation and abuse of other children, Sigourney Weaver’s Alice Goodwin handles her fate and the snowballing of her situation with the kind of levity and good humor that either suggests the onslaught of mental illness, a superior inner strength or a mad combination of both.

For a good part of Scott Elliott’s film “A Map of the World,” which is based on Jane Hamilton’s popular novel of the same name, it’s left unclear just how Alice copes with the hellish spectacle her life has become, but what’s made very clear is how discontent she was with her life before her world came crashing down around her in great balls of flames.

She lives in rural Wisconsin on a farm her husband, Howard (David Strathairn), champions more than she; as a school nurse, she’s famously outspoken about her dislike of the children she treats; and as a wife and mother, she’s just as open about her disapproval of her husband — whom she browbeats and considers weak — and her total disregard for one of her bratty daughters.

Alice is far from Miss Congeniality and she’s about as likable as a Hun, but she’s real, and it’s to Weaver’s great credit that she nevertheless manages to make us care for Alice, whose difficult nature is her undoing, her saving grace, and also something she can’t necessarily help.

The balance in a movie such as this must be handled delicately or the tone is shot. Director Elliott and his cast, which includes Julianne Moore, Louise Fletcher and Chloe Sevigny, know this and seem to be forever circling around Weaver, taking their cues from her while her character tries to settle into her own skin.

Throughout, there is a clear understanding that this is Weaver’s movie, Weaver’s moment, which the supporting cast respects with fine, underwritten performances that never draw attention away from the film’s star.

That proves a generous gift for Weaver, especially considering the powerhouse of talent Elliott snagged to star in this, his feature film debut, which is something of a gift itself.

Grade: A-

On video

THE GREEN MILE. Written and directed by Frank Darabont. 180 minutes, R.

Frank Darabont’s “The Green Mile” is a poignant, three-hour excursion in old-fashioned storytelling that recalls Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” in structure while nearly duplicating Darabont’s “The Shawshank Redemption” in tone.

Based on the best-selling serialized novel by Stephen King, “The Green Mile,” told in flashback, is a gem that creates a richly absorbing atmosphere while investing itself completely in characters well-defined by Darabont’s literate script and his excellent cast.

The film does have elements of the supernatural and a few grisly scenes, but it’s in no hurry to exploit those elements or King’s association with them. Instead, Darabont knows he has the gift of King’s story, which he wisely allows to open and evolve as naturally as King did himself.

The film’s soul rests within its cast, spearheaded by Tom Hanks’ superb performance as Paul Edgecomb, a quiet, unassuming man in charge of Death Row in a Louisiana penitentiary during the Depression.

With the exception of the loathsome Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison), a sadistic guard desperate to use the electric chair so he can watch inmates “cook up close,” Death Row in Darabont’s world is a close-knit community of likable guards (David Morse, Barry Pepper, Jeffrey DeMunn).

Bonded by death, these men eventually come to witness the miracle of life through the miraculous healing powers of John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a hulking black man sentenced to walk the green mile after allegedly raping and killing two girls.

Sweet and childlike, his initials and his fate hardly subtle, Coffey eventually reveals he has the power to heal. In a moment played for all it’s worth, Darabont proves he’s a perfect match for King’s better works. As the film builds toward its emotional climax, the director shows he’s as adept as King in telling big stories with universal themes.

That this story is big and sweeping within such a confined space is a testament to how well its themes and its moral dilemma come off.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, Tuesday and Thursday on WLBZ’s “NEWS CENTER 5:30 Today” and “NEWS CENTER Tonight,” and Saturday and Sunday on NEWS CENTER’s statewide “Morning Report.”