Greenfingers (2000)

R    1 hr 31 min

Watched on Amazon Prime 06/06/18

I kept passing by this movie on my queue multiple times. While this film starts slowly, the story held my attention. I enjoyed this movie more for the interaction of the prisoners than the romantic subplot. Greenfingers seems almost like an alternate universe where certain prisoners with serious crimes in their past are sent to a prison which encourages change for the better rather than reinforcing the brutality of their pasts. This movie is based on a true story of celebrated inmate gardeners, I suspect that the love angle inserted in this story is fabricated as it appears to be the weakest portion. However the arc of the prisoners and their characters are much more interesting. Either by luck or design the prison and its inmates are the major portion of this movie. The cinematography is beautiful. How could it not be with English gardens being almost a main character.  The standout human actors are Clive Owen (as prisoner, Colin Briggs) and Helen Mirren (as an expert as familiar with PR as she is with gardening, Georgina Woodhouse). Supporting players David Kelly (prisoner, Fergus Wilks), Warren Clarke (as Governor (aka head of Edgefield Prison) Hodge, Adam Fogerty (as prisoner, Raw) and Paterson Joseph (as prisoner, Jimmy) hold their own against the professionalism and talent of Owen and Mirren. The ending is uplifting, yet not too obviously clichéd.