The book or the movie?

It’s the classical question. Every time a book is made into a movie, the discussion among reviewers in the newspapers and on TV repeats all over again. Does the movie give fair credit to the book? What is missing from the movie that was in the book? The questions are the same but the answers are always different.
Generally I fall on the side of the book. In my reading life, what I can remember, I only once thought the movie was better than the book. That was Umberto Eco’s In the name of the rose. In the book, the vivid and lengthy description of the monastery got me out of touch with the story and left me no desire to continue. The movie however had a quicker pace, which moved the story forward and thus making it easier to follow.
It do happens that I think the movie is equal to the book, it is usually because the movie portraits another angle. One book like that is Stephen King’s the Green mile. In the book version of the Green mile, the focus is more on the guard Mr. Paul Edgecombe. While the movie focuses on the destiny and life of the inmate John Coffey sitting on death row.
Now I pass the question to you, which is best, the book or the movie?
Josefine

My recommendations: The hours by Michael Cunningham.