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"We think of this place like an intensive care ward of a hospital." So says Paul Edgecomb, who is in charge of Death Row in a Louisiana penitentiary during the Depression. Paul ( Tom Hanks ) is a nice man, probably nicer than your average Louisiana Death Row guard, and his staff is competent and humane--all except for the loathsome Percy, whose aunt is married to the governor, and who could have any state job he wants, but likes it here because "he wants to see one cook up close." One day a new prisoner arrives. He is a gigantic black man, framed by the low-angle camera to loom over the guards and duck under doorways. This is John Coffey ("like the drink, only not spelled the same"), and he has been convicted of molesting and killing two little white girls. From the start it is clear he is not what he seems. He is afraid of the dark, for one thing. He is straightforward in shaking Paul's hand--not like a man with anything to be ashamed of.

This is not a good summer for Paul. He is suffering from a painful infection and suffering, too, because Percy ( Doug Hutchison ) is like an infection in the ward: "The man is mean, careless and stupid--that's a bad combination in a place like this." Paul sees his duty as regulating a calm and decent atmosphere in which men prepare to die.

"The Green Mile" (so-called because this Death Row has a green floor) is based on a novel by Stephen King , and has been written and directed by Frank Darabont . It is Darabont's first film since the great " The Shawshank Redemption " in 1994. That, too, was based on a King prison story, but this one is very different. It involves the supernatural, for one thing--in a spiritual, not creepy, way.

Both movies center on relationships between a white man and a black man. In "Shawshank" the black man was the witness to a white man's dogged determination, and here the black man's function is to absorb the pain of whites--to redeem and forgive them. By the end, when he is asked to forgive them for sending him to the electric chair, the story has so well prepared us that the key scenes play like drama, not metaphor, and that is not an easy thing to achieve.

The movie is told in flashback as the memories of Paul as an old man, now in a retirement home. "The math doesn't quite work out," he admits at one point, and we find out why. The story is in no haste to get to the sensational and supernatural; it takes at least an hour simply to create the relationships in the prison, where Paul's lieutenant ( David Morse ) is rock-solid and dependable, where the warden ( James Cromwell ) is good and fair, and where the prisoners include a balmy coot named Delacroix ( Michael Jeter ) and a taunting monster named Wharton ( Sam Rockwell ).

Looming over all is the presence of John Coffey ( Michael Clarke Duncan ), a man whose own lawyer says he seems to have "dropped out of the sky." Coffey cannot read or write, seems simpleminded, causes no trouble and exudes goodness. The reason Paul consults the lawyer is because he comes to doubt this prisoner could have killed the little girls. Yet Coffey was found with their broken bodies in his huge arms. And in Louisiana in the 1930s, a black man with such evidence against him is not likely to be acquitted by a jury. (We might indeed question whether a Louisiana Death Row in the 1930s would be so fair and hospitable to a convicted child molester, but the story carries its own conviction, and we go along with it.) There are several sequences of powerful emotion in the film. Some of them involve the grisly details of the death chamber, and the process by which the state makes sure that a condemned man will actually die ( Harry Dean Stanton has an amusing cameo as a stand-in at a dress rehearsal with the electric chair). One execution is particularly gruesome and seen in some detail; the R rating is earned here, despite the film's generally benevolent tone. Other moments of great impact involve a tame mouse which Delacroix adopts, a violent struggle with Wharton (and his obscene attempts at rabble-rousing), and subplots involving the wives of Paul ( Bonnie Hunt ) and the warden ( Patricia Clarkson ).

But the center of the movie is the relationship between Paul and his huge prisoner Coffey. Without describing the supernatural mechanism that is involved, I can explain in Coffey's own words what he does with the suffering he encounters: "I just took it back, is all." How he does that and what the results are, all set up the film's ending--in which we are reminded of another execution some 2,000 years ago.

I have started to suspect that when we talk about "good acting" in the movies, we are really discussing two other things: good casting and the creation of characters we react to strongly. Much of a performance is created in the filmmaking itself, in photography and editing and the emotional cues of music. But an actor must have the technical and emotional mastery to embody a character and evoke him persuasively, and the film must give him a character worth portraying. Tom Hanks is our movie Everyman, and his Paul is able to win our sympathy with his level eyes and calm, decent voice. We get a real sense of his efficient staff, of the vile natures of Percy and Wharton, and of the goodness of Coffey--who is embodied by Duncan in a performance that is both acting and being.

The movie is a shade over three hours long. I appreciated the extra time, which allows us to feel the passage of prison months and years. Stephen King, sometimes dismissed as merely a best-seller, has in his best novels some of the power of Dickens, who created worlds that enveloped us and populated them with colorful, peculiar, sharply seen characters. King in his strongest work is a storyteller likely to survive as Dickens has, despite the sniffs of the litcrit establishment.

By taking the extra time, Darabont has made King's "The Green Mile" into a story which develops and unfolds, which has detail and space. The movie would have been much diminished at two hours--it would have been a series of episodes without context. As Darabont directs it, it tells a story with beginning, middle, end, vivid characters, humor, outrage and emotional release. Dickensian.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Green Mile (1999)

Rated R For Violence, Language and Some Sex-Related Material

182 minutes

Michael Jeter as Eduard Delacroix

Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey

Doug Hutchison as Percy Wetmore

Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb

Based On The Novel by

• Stephen King

Written and Directed by

• Frank Darabont

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“The Green Mile”: Movie Analysis

The Green Mile movie that stars Tom Hanks is centered on a novel written by Stephen King. It was called so because the death row from the Louisiana State Penitentiary to the execution room had a green floor. Every second of the three-hour movie is worth it, considering the iconic flow of events that looks more as a real-life situation than a metaphor. The story is presented as a flashback from Paul Edgecombe’s perspective who heads death row prisoners. In the movie, there is a struggle to ensure the calm and peaceful nature of the inmates. Paul treats all the inmates with respect and dignity despite their heinous criminal acts. Percy Wetmore is an entire contrast of Paul because he has a sadistic personality (Gottlieb). The two contrasts form the basis of the movie that is the harm that individuals cause to others. Each scene in the movie attempts to highlight the same message.

The first case of harm to others is that of an essential character in The Green Mile is John Coffey. He is charged with the murder and rape of two girls, a crime he did not commit. From his time of admittance to the prison, Coffey’s nature clearly shows that he is not guilty of the allegations charged against him. John had healing capabilities, which he used to heal Paul’s severe bladder infection and later resurrected Mr. Jingles (Ebert). The events showed his kind nature spirited with total calmness despite being a fiercely strong black man that everyone could mistake for a killer. Another case of harm to others was that of Wild Bill, a pathological killer who abused Coffey racially and assaulted the correctional officers. He was restrained in the padded cell on several occasions because of the unruly behavior.

Percy, on the other hand, authorizes Del’s death an agonizing and gruesome experience. Out of his cruelty, the guard fails to soak the sponge used in the electrocution process leading to a painful death for the inmate. As a punishment, the correctional officers locked him in a padded cell for some days (Mbah et.al.22). The following events after this depicted how people can take advantage of others for their own benefits. Paul uses the chance to smuggle John out of the prison chambers considering that Percy was behind bars. He intended that John could heal Melinda, Moore’s wife who suffered a brain tumor (Gottlieb). He released Melinda’s tumor to Percy’s brain making him shoot Will Bill. Later, Paul allows John to be executed knowing that his intentions for him were fulfilled.

After his death, John confessed that Bill was the real culprit in the killing of the young girls that led to his mistaken arrest. It shows the weaknesses of justice systems to determine the actual offenders of a crime. As a result, Paul offers to let John free after realizing that he was innocent. However, Coffey confessed that he wanted to die because he viewed the world as a cruel place. John felt the pain looking at how humanity was so cruel. He watched Top Hat with the other officers before he was later executed that night. John requested the guards not to cover his head with a hood because he feared the dark (Ebert). The electrocution scene is the most heart-wrenching and sad part of the film. The unfairness of the situation is a clear depiction of harm to innocent individuals.

The scene also highlights the need to be human while treating others regardless of their situations. The inmates are seen as undeserving individuals because of the various horrific convictions against them. Despite this, it does not guarantee them human treatment by the relevant authorities. With such a portrayal, it is easy to judge the morality of the inmates without getting an actual glimpse of the situation. For example, Coffey was seen as a miracle inmate yet that was not enough to completely forgive his transgressions. The correctional officers witness his execution even after he healed different individuals with his magical powers (Gottlieb). The situation, therefore, calls for fair treatment for inmates irrespective of their actions.

Furthermore, the story is a mirror of today’s generation where vices surpasses the virtues in the society. It is clear that no matter how an individual is good to others; the world does not guarantee them the same in return. The element of supernatural powers is portrayed as a unique talent that is meant to impact people positively. As a viewer, one could imagine the number of individuals that could benefit from the gift. The actual tragedy is that John was put behind bars for a crime he did not commit even with his ability to save the world. In the end, he is electrocuted despite his series of kind deeds even to the correctional officers themselves (Mbah et al.22). The mentioned incidences align with the fact that one is needed only when he/she is beneficial to the group and neglected during their difficult moments.

The movie is also a depiction of how crimes are left unsolved in the name of capital punishments. In similar incidences, the final decisions from the court are made earlier before the innocence of the individual is declared, thus leaving the actual criminals with the ordinary citizens (Gottlieb). The security officers are used to cause more pain to the inmates. For example, Percy is known for his sadistic nature, a clear reflection of hatred against the human species. He enjoys the cruel treatment he imposes on the inmates without understanding that he is also part of the species (Ebert). He also forgets that some of his actions are misconducts that could have him reported and given the severest punishments. Percy, however, considers himself untouchable because he is Louisiana’s first lady’s nephew.

Lastly, the mental and physical suffering imposed on the death penalty victims while the officers watch aligns with the message of the movie. According to studies by Mbah et al, it is disheartening how the guards can witness the electrocution of another human because of their crimes (22). In the real sense, they also commit crimes that, if possible, could make them death penalty victims as well. The gruesome death experienced by Eduard Delacroix paints a picture that the death penalty may not be as proponents put it but a barbaric act that steers terrible pain on the victims. Awaiting the punishment can be a worse experience than the moment itself. It is easy to recognize the images of mentally broken inmates sentenced to death on an electric chair. While movies are meant to display certain aspects of the actual world, The Green Mile is a clear reflection of cruelty related to death penalties. It calls for every individual to stop the fight against our own species and treat everyone kindly.

Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. “The Green Mile Movie Review & Film Summary (1999) | Roger Ebert”. Rogerebert.Com . Web.

Gottlieb, Richard, et al. “ The Death Penalty Moral Dilemma in The Green Mile Live for Films.” Web.

Mbah, Ruth Endam, et.al. “ Cruel choice: The Ethics and Morality of the Death Penalty .” Research on humanities and social sciences vol. 9, no.24, 2019.

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Green Mile as a Statement Against the Death Penalty Essay (Movie Review)

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Someone may say that Green Mile is a great movie that touches upon a number of problems such as inhumanity, the death penalty, lie and crime. At the same time, someone can notice that it is extremely hard to watch such complicated story.

Both of them would be agreed on the one statement: Green Mile is a remarkable emotional story that cannot leave one without the emotional response. As for me, although I am not a big fan of such heavy movies, however, it is difficult to overestimate the depth of the events, feelings and motives of human behavior and significance of human life and mercy demonstrated in movie Green Mile .

Movie Green Mile based on the story of Stephen King describes the complicated circumstances that may lead to the misunderstanding and tragic consequences. This story takes place in a time of the Great Depression when the pessimistic mood was the major characteristic of human life.

The movie is a story of John Coffey, African-American who is accused of the murder of two girls and has to be punished by the death penalty. However, later it becomes obvious that John is not murder; moreover, he has the specific power to cure people and animals. Nevertheless, the process is started and John is ready to die being tired of the inhumanity. Comparing John Coffey with another prisoner named Wild Bill, it is easy to find the difference between two guys, although both of them should be punished, according to the judgment.

At the end the audience sees that it is Bill who killed two girls. Why than this movie does not provide the fair end? Here is an interesting fact: the initials of the protagonist are J. C. as Jesus Christ. I suppose that the author of this story wanted to emphasize the unjust treatment with the main hero who was not guilty in a crime but was punished as it happened with Jesus Christ.

It is possible to claim that Green Mile contains a statement against the death penalty as a way of punishment. Somebody can be killed even if he/she is not guilty of the crime, but it is impossible to prove. Moreover, the episode with penalty provides the awful demonstration of such event.

Obviously, it is difficult to see the picture of an agonizing death on the electric chair. The author of the story as well as the director of the movie does not say directly about the abrogation of the death penalty; however, the symbolical meaning of this idea is clearly seen thought the movie.

Concluding, I want to notice that although this movie is difficult to watch because of its complicated plot and heavy pictures, I think that the main idea of this story is great. Inhumanity, prejudgment, injustice and disappointment make an audience think about the significance of truth and every second of our life.

Humanity is the most powerful weapon against all evil events that occur in society. And people should together try to find the solution of the complicated situations and to keep being kind and charitable in spite of all negative. Great actors play helps movie to be more eloquent and expressive. I think that everybody should watch Green Mile once and reflect about the significance of the human life and mercy.

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Movie Review: The Green Mile

Reading comprehension about the green mile (film review), movie review: “the green mile”, comprehension:.

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The Green Mile

Review by brian eggert november 17, 2019.

The Green Mile finds writer-director Frank Darabont operating in two modes, that of a sentimentalist and an unyielding cynic. Darabont has given us stirring examples of each mode. In the former, he explored hopeful, life-affirming stories such as The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Majestic (2001), whereas his latter mode isolated and confronted his audience with The Mist (2007), an unforgettably grim horror picture. But his 1999 film, one of Darabont’s many adaptations of a Stephen King text, finds an uncommon balance between his occasional Capra-esque optimism and his capacity for bitter despair. Many have censured The Green Mile for its more earnest scenes and the limited characterization of its sole black character, and while I wrestle to defend the film against such critiques, I must acknowledge that the power of its drama is immersive and moves me. More compelling, however, is Darabont’s willingness to present the story as another feel-good prison film, but instead, he delivers a saddening tale of spiritual uncertainty. Far less uplifting than his other maudlin efforts, The Green Mile is a film of extreme poles, comfortably pleasant in one moment and appallingly cruel the next. Though it might have been reduced to a mushy, touching crowd-pleaser, Darabont’s willingness to explore the darker regions of King’s story distinguish it.  

Not long after The Green Mile was published in 1996, Darabont approached King about acquiring the rights. Two years earlier, Darabont had released The Shawshank Redemption at Warner Bros. with underwhelming box-office performance; regardless, it received seven Oscar nominations and became a major success on home video and in cable television markets. Repeated at-home viewings raised the film to a cult status and, over time, it was celebrated as a favorite among viewers—it soon earned the number one spot on IMDB’s user-voted list of the top 250 films, which it maintains to this day. Given the belated renown of The Shawshank Redemption , Darabont received a wider berth with The Green Mile , including a budget of $60 million, a dream cast, and a luxurious three-hour runtime, all for a film that proves quite bleak. Even so, the result performed well during the December holiday season, earned accolades for relative newcomer Michael Clarke Duncan, and secured four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. In some critical circles, reviewers took Darabont to task for the saccharine, feel-goodness of his work. Writing in Film Comment , Dave Kehr criticized the film’s geniality and described the inmates as having “the fuzzy huggableness of hand puppets.” Just as many critics assessed The Shawshank Redemption as an oddly pleasant film for a story about life in prison, a few writers, standing out in the majority of positive assessments, would reduce The Green Mile to feel-good entertainment. 

The critical notion of The Green Mile ’s syrupy condition has always confused me. Even though it contains moments of sentimentality, it is a bleak tale. Here’s a story with devastating jolts of emotion (including three electric chair executions, each of them horrific to varying degrees), animal cruelty, prison violence, and an ending that leaves its protagonist in a perpetual state of foreboding and existential crisis. It’s a three-hour commercial film whose tension remains unresolved to rather gloomy and inauspicious effect. The story is told by the elderly Paul Edgecomb (Dabbs Greer), who lives inside a senior living center. The overhead music—the Mantovani orchestra’s performance of “Charmaine,” the same music played in the mental institution in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)—draws a sinister comparison, underscoring the questions that have tormented and imprisoned him. He tells a fellow inmate (Elaine Connelly) about his time in the 1930s as a guard at the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s death row, the E-block nicknamed “the green mile” for its olive floors. Though moments of humor do occur, and the sedate “intensive care ward” mannerism on the green mile seems calmer and gentler than your average prison film, the narrative that unfolds has never left me feeling happy or sedated as a viewer. 

Among the most unsettling aspects of The Green Mile is Percy, a vile and contemptuous character, among the most hateful in any film. He’s a weaselly character who delights in torturing inmates and exercising whatever cruel powers his authority lends him. Despite their crimes, the monk-like Edgecomb hopes to create a calm and accommodating mood to give the inmates a sense of tranquility before sending them into oblivion. Percy wants to watch them squirm, take away whatever they hold dear—in Delacroix’s case, Mr. Jingles—and finally, give the death order. And whenever he seems to show a faint sign of humanity, he answers it with a dose of barbarism. Percy is also a coward who endangers his colleagues when he fails to act in a crucial moment after the new inmate, William “Wild Bill” Wharton (Sam Rockwell, unhinged), feigns catatonia to get the jump on the guards. Percy’s only match in the despicable department, Wild Bill urinates and spits chewed Moon Pies on the guards, spews debased remarks, and slings racist epithets, earning his place in the block’s padded cell. He takes particular delight in confronting Percy—a rare and perverse treat in a scene when Wild Bill finds Percy at his weakest and most sniveling. In a bit of Kingian convenience, Wild Bill is also the killer of the two girls that landed John Coffey on death row. But both are detestable characters, some of the vilest ever conceived in King’s massive inventory of awful human beings, though brilliantly played by both Hutchinson and Rockwell.  

Darabont’s screenplay follows the episodic structure of King’s novel, which was published in six parts between March and August of 1996. The ebbs and flows of the story settle the viewer into the routines of the green mile, the even-tempered disposition of the guards and periodic rehearsals of the next execution—a calm frequently interrupted by Percy’s behavior or Wild Bill’s outbursts. Each death row inmate has his own subplot, and the way they intermingle allows them to build into a greater whole. But the overarching story centers on Edgecomb’s handling of Coffey, who is hardly present for the first 90 minutes of The Green Mile , whereas the latter half entails Edgecomb reconciling that the prisoner’s abilities constitute a bona fide miracle from God. It’s something everyone on duty comes to believe; even Warden Hal Moores (James Cromwell), whose wife Mildred (Patricia Clarkson) suffers from a brain tumor until Coffey consumes it. Coffey is surely a Christ-like character, capable of healing the sick and reviving the dead, and his death echoes the self-sacrifice of the crucifixion. In another way, Coffey resembles countless King characters endowed with telepathy, precognition, and other supernatural talents (in Carrie , The Shining , Firestarter , The Dead Zone , et al.)—symbols of Otherness compared to the grounded characters that usually guide King’s narratives. 

The second factor pertains to the prevalent discussion around the film as a site of the so-called “magical Negro,” where a saintly black man or woman (usually a man) helps their white counterpart to deal with a central conflict of the film. Usually, the “magical Negro” has a spiritual quality, using his folksy wisdom and moral superiority as a member of the repressed to assist or offer crucial advice that helps the white character. The conflicts in these situations emerge from the white character’s perspective, whereas the person of color remains supplementary in his Otherness. It is most commonly a matter of some spiritual consequence, as opposed to a tactile dilemma to overcome, allowing the “magical Negro” to offer their angelic guidance to relieve the white character’s crisis of the soul. Along with characters in films such as Cuba Gooding Jr. in What Dreams May Come (1998) and Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), Coffey unquestionably fits this racial stereotype. As the only significant black character in the film, Coffey is described as “monstrous big” but an “imbecile” who is nonetheless good-hearted and, of course, endowed with supernatural abilities. Those abilities, combined with his reassurance of Edgecomb in the finale, resolve most of the tensions in the film, which is told from Edgecomb’s point of view. However, though Coffey may absolve Edgecomb of any wrongdoing by allowing the wrongful execution to take place, he does not completely remove Edgecomb’s spiritual conflict. 

But as Roger Ebert observed about the film’s racial dynamics and the relationship between Edgecomb and Coffey, “the story has so well prepared us that the key scenes play like drama, not metaphor, and that is not an easy thing to achieve.” Indeed, hyper-aware of the widespread commentary about race as it relates to The Green Mile upon this viewing, I was surprised to discover that during the film I was so engaged in Darabont’s storytelling that its potential ramifications only surfaced afterward. At times, the late Michael Clarke Duncan’s performance transcends the “magical Negro” trope, creating a soulful and tortured character whose mind, acting like a receiver to the cruelty in the world (“like pieces of glass in my head, all the time”), has grown tired of existence. Putting him out of his misery as Edgecomb does is not an easy choice—one with which he never reconciles; it follows him for nearly a century, and beyond. Moreover, the ever-affable Hanks and the other actors playing guards (Morse, Pepper, and DeMunn each soar) seem to have genuine bonds, whereas the range of acting styles among the inmates never ceases to impress. Another actor taken too soon is Jeter, whose moments of elation with the mouse have a charmed tenderness, making his end all the more horrific. 

If Darabont somehow made The Shawshank Redemption easy viewing—the contention made by its detractors—the highs and lows of The Green Mile leave the viewer in a puddle of tears, worrying for Edgecomb, who may live forever, regretting his refusal to act on behalf of a black man in the Jim Crow South. This is hardly a film that dismisses race, though it doesn’t treat race as the leading text either. Using a range of dramatic tools, Darabont blends the more disturbing qualities of the story with his prevailing humanism and sentimentality—a temperament often chided by critics. “There’s nothing wrong with honest sentiment,” Darabont told The Guardian in an interview in which the filmmaker admits to being emotionally manipulative of his audience. “The point is, do you appreciate the manipulation or resent it? Do you notice it, or do you completely, blindly give yourself over to it?” At times, you notice The Green Mile tugging your heartstrings. But aside from a moment or two over the course of three hours, the viewer gives in, entrenched in the proceedings and deeply affected by the spell of these characters. Still, like Edgecomb, we are visited upon by its implications and occasionally embarrassed by its resounding effect.  

(Editor’s Note:  This review was suggested and commissioned on Patreon. Thanks for your support, Avshalom! )

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The Green Mile: A Truly Powerful Movie

The Green Mile

By stephen king.

• The Green Mile Summary

The Green Mile tells the story of Paul Edgecombe , a prison guard at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. In the present day, Paul is an old man living in the Georgia Pines nursing home. At the end of his life, he feels compelled to tell the story of an inmate named John Coffey . Coffey was the only inmate to ever make Paul question the nature of his job. The majority of the novel takes place in 1932, within the context of the South during the Great Depression.

Paul works as the superintendent of E Block, the section of the prison designated for prisoners on death row. At the time, executions were administered by the electric chair. Paul and the other guards on E Block take their job very seriously, understanding that condemned prisoners are under great psychological strain as they await death. The one guard who fails to understand this is Percy Wetmore. Percy only got the job because his uncle is the governor. Percy is sadistic, incompetent, and universally hated by guards and inmates.

Coffey is a towering Black man who was convicted of raping and murdering two white girls, the Detterick twins. He was found crying and holding their dead bodies, and was quickly convicted and sentenced to death. From the moment Coffey comes to the prison, Paul feels there is something mysterious about him. Despite his size, Coffey is childlike and constantly weeping in his cell. Delacroix is another prisoner on E Block. He’s a mild-mannered Frenchman with a pet mouse named Mr. Jingles . Percy has an inexplicable hatred for Delacroix and bullies him constantly. The last prisoner to come to E Block at this time is William Wharton. Wharton is young, out of control, and proud of it. He creates untold chaos from the moment he enters E Block, most notably trying to kill one of the guards.

Paul realizes Coffey has supernatural abilities when Coffey heals him of a painful urinary infection. Paul believes that Coffey’s abilities are a gift from God. Later on, Coffey heals Mr. Jingles, who almost dies after Percy stomps on him. In revenge for Delacroix laughing at him, Percy tampers with Delacroix’s execution. His actions cause Delacroix to burn alive while in the electric chair. This death is so horrendous that Paul feels compelled to atone for letting Percy be in charge of the execution. Knowing that the prison warden's wife is dying of a brain tumor, he devises a plan to break Coffey out of prison so he can heal her. He convinces guards Harry and Brutal to help him and Coffey miraculously heals Melinda, the warden’s wife. Coffey absorbs Melinda’s sickness and back at the prison passes it on to Percy. Percy goes insane and shoots Wharton in cold blood.

Paul investigates Coffey’s case further and discovers that Wharton, not Coffey, killed the Detterick girls. In fact, Coffey was trying to heal them when they found him with their bodies. The knowledge that an innocent man will be executed weighs heavily on all the guards. However, they feel trapped by a criminal justice system that is not willing to offer a fair trial to a Black man. Tired of living in such a cruel world, and feeling so much of people’s pain, Coffey accepts his fate. The guards reluctantly execute Coffey. However, Brutal and Paul both leave Cold Mountain after that as they cannot stomach the idea of taking part in another execution.

Paul ends his life at Georgia Pines nursing home. He is forever changed after Coffey heals him. Immune to sickness and injury, Paul is 104 years old and still waiting to die.

The Green Mile Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Green Mile is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for The Green Mile

The Green Mile study guide contains a biography of Stephen King, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Green Mile
• Character List

Essays for The Green Mile

The Green Mile essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Green Mile by Stephen King.

• Magical Realism, and John Coffey as Jesus in The Green Mile
• John Coffey, and the use of Intellectual Disabilities to Challenge the ‘Black Buck’ Stereotype in The Green Mile

Lesson Plan for The Green Mile

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Introduction to The Green Mile
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Green Mile Bibliography

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The Green Mile

66 pages • 2 hours read

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Part 1, Chapters 5-8

Part 2, Chapters 1-4

Part 2, Chapters 5-8

Part 2, Chapters 9-11

Part 3, Chapters 1-5

Part 3, Chapters 6-10

Part 4, Chapters 1-4

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Part 5, Chapters 1-4

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Summary and Study Guide

At Georgia Pines retirement home, an elderly Paul Edgecombe sets to write about the events of his time as a correctional officer at Louisiana’s Cold Mountain State Penitentiary with the help of his companion, Elaine Connelly . In 1932, a 40-year old Paul is the supervising officer of Cold Mountain’s death row, formally referred to as E Block, but known commonly as The Green Mile, for the color of its linoleum floor. This is the same year that John Coffey , a large black man found guilty of murdering the Detterick family’s twin girls, arrives at Cold Mountain. He was found clutching the white girls’ dead bodies and despairing over their deaths. Paul is unsettled by his gentle demeanor. One day, Coffey beckons him to his cell and cures Paul of his urinary tract infection. Paul struggles to reconcile Coffey’s healing powers with the horrific nature of his crimes. Later, Coffey uses his healing powers again to revive Mr. Jingles , the pet mouse of another inmate, Eduard Delacroix , after the guard, Percy Wetmore stomps on it. The rest of the guards, Brutus “Brutal” Howell , Harry Terwilliger, and Dean Stanton witness the revival, and come to believe in Coffey’s magical abilities.

Meanwhile, William Wharton joins The Green Mile as an inmate after a wild crime spree. A reckless and violent man, he attempts to choke Dean Stanton to death at first meeting. One day, Wharton grabs guard Percy Wetmore from his cell and scares the guard into wetting his pants. Delacroix makes the mistake of laughing at Percy. Furious and embarrassed, Percy vows to take revenge on Delacroix on the day of his execution. When Delacroix sits at Old Sparky, the electrocution chair, Percy intentionally omits the brine on the sponge of Delacroix’s helmet. As a result, he prolongs the pain of Delacroix’s death and his body burns over the course of his excruciating execution. The rest of the guards are furious with Percy as they have grown fond of Delacroix and believe he did not deserve such a horrific death.

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Paul decides he must atone for his complicity in Delacroix’s painful death by helping Warden Hal Moores’ wife, Melinda, with her brain tumor. He enlists the help of guards Brutal, Dean, and Harry to break Coffey out of prison temporarily, so he can cure Melinda with his healing touch. As part of their plan, they give inmate Wharton a sedative and trap Percy Wetmore in the restraint room. Before they leave, Wharton appears to still be conscious in his cell and reaches out to grab Coffey’s arm. At that moment, Coffey realizes that Wharton is the real killer of the Detterick twins, although that fact is not known to the others at the time. At the Moores’ house, Coffey removes Melinda’s brain tumor by sucking it out of her mouth through a deep kiss. Melinda wakes up in full health and expresses her gratitude to Coffey. The guards make their way back to Cold Mountain with Coffey successfully. Upon releasing Percy from the restraint room, they make him promise to send in his transfer to Briar Ridge, another penal institution. A bitter Percy walks free, but not before Coffey grabs him and releases the forces of Melinda’s tumor into his mouth. When Coffey releases him, Percy stumbles towards Wharton’s cell and shoots Wharton six times, killing him while Wharton is sedated. The guards apprehend Percy, who is transferred to Briar Ridge as a patient, instead of a guard, and remains in his catatonic state from Coffey’s touch.

Later, Paul investigates the murder of the Detterick girls and learns that the true killer is Wharton. Around the time of the murder, Klaus Detterick, the girls’ father, had hired Wharton to help paint the barn, unaware of his criminal background. Wharton kidnaps the girls, rapes them while they are away from the house, and kills them. Coffey happens by the bodies and tries to heal them, but it’s too late. When Paul shares his findings with the rest of the guards, they realize that it is too late for Coffey to get a new trial. In the racial climate of the period, it is unlikely for a black man to receive a retrial, and, without Wharton, there is no way to show the public that he is the real killer. When they receive an official date of execution for Coffey, they realize they have no choice but to execute him, despite being aware of his innocence. When they inform Coffey of this, he tells them he is tired from holding the sadness of the world and is ready to go. He touches Paul one last time, transferring some of his vitality to him. At last, with grievous hearts, the guards send Coffey to his death.

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Years later, Paul shares the written account of this story with Elaine. He reveals that Mr. Jingles, the pet mouse of executed inmate Delacroix, has been alive all this time, and living in a shed behind Georgia Pines. Coffey’s touch has extended the life of both Paul and Mr. Jingles. When Mr. Jingles ends up at Georgia Pines one day, Paul takes it as a sign that the end of his long life is near and that he must share Coffey’s story.

In the last chapter, Paul reveals the moments following the tragic Greyhound accident that led to the death of his wife, Janice. He realizes Coffey has saved him that day while also leaving him with the burden of survival. Coffey’s gift extends Paul’s life, but he has to watch people he loves die around him. Eventually, Elaine, the only one left who knows his story, passes away, too, leaving him all alone.

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The Green Mile (1999) review That Film Guy

September 7, 2012 by That Film Guy Leave a Comment

Stephen King adaptations have become a mainstay in Hollywood since Carrie was released in 1976. Known for his contributions to horror fiction, in books, television and film, his dramatic short stories have actually provided the basis of some of the best film adaptations, notably Frank Darabont’s masterpiece The Shawshank Redemption and its sister film The Green Mile . Based on a collection of short stories and set in 1932, The Green Mile follows the people that work and are imprisoned in the Cold Mountain Penitentiary. It was a commercial and critical success making $286m at the box office and resulting in four Oscar nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards, including one for Michael Clarke Duncan for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1999 a retired corrections officer, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) begins to recount his time at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary as the officer in charge of death row, entitled The Green Mile because the corridor that leads to the electric chair has a strip of faded green linoleum. One day in 1932 a gentle giant by the name of John Coffey (Duncan) is transferred to the prison for the rape and murder of two young girls. After showing no signs of a violent personality, Coffey demonstrates a rare gift that allows him to heal people just by laying his hands on them. Over the course of the next decade, Edgecomb and Coffey become friends and experience a series of moving a heart-breaking moments that neither will forget.

Darabont obtained a reputation during the filming of The Green Mile as one of the most precise directors working today. He insisted on reshooting scene after scene until he was absolutely happy that each moment built to an overall epic tale of good and evil. In The Shawshank Redemption , which The Green Mile closely resembles more than any other film, he had the substance and the narrative to prolong certain scenes of action, because everything was building to a crescendo of style and substance. The Green Mile , while having the epic grandeur nailed, feels more episodic, perhaps because it’s based on a series of 6 short stories, each with its own cliffhanger. So where its predecessor swooped, ducked and soared and felt like an experience in perfection, The Green Mile is more plodding and struggles to maintain the pacing. It’s definitely a marathon viewing experience.

This is not to say it’s not excellent and Darabont gets the absolute best out of the interesting script, while managing to find a cast that each excel. Tom Hanks’ journeyman character, similar in approach as his Captain Miller from Saving Private Ryan grounds the magical realism that sits at he heart of this psuedo-religious film. Opposite him is Michael Clarke Duncan, playing the slow-witted, all heart incarnation of goodness. At no point does The Green Mile lead you to think that he is guilty of his crimes unless through a Lenny-esque accidental attack. While criticism was aimed at the character by Spike Lee for being a “magic negro” (harmless and whose sole work is to better the lives of white people), there can be no denying that Duncan himself is a revelation in this pivotal role, imbuing the huge, potentially intimidating man with real sympathy and a heart-breaking lack of understanding. The supporting cast including the likes of William Sadler, Patricia Clarkson, James Cromwell, Gary Sinise and Sam Rockwell are all immaculately cast and help support the central relationship between Edgecomb and Coffey.

So with an interesting premise, superb cast and a keen eye for detail in direction, The Green Mile is a fantastic companion piece to The Shawshank Redemption . It can’t quite reach the same level of quality, mainly due to the flawed episodic nature of the source material, but The Green Mile is further proof that Darabont is one of the most interesting and talented directors in Hollywood.

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Stephen King's The Green Mile

"They kill with their love", says John Coffey, pointing out that it happens every day, all over the world. The Green Mile is a film about many diverse topics, but fundamentally it is about the harm humans inflict on other members of their own species.

The Green Mile is a term referring to the death row in the Louisiana State Penintiary. Here, the prisoners who are to be executed are held until it is their time, and then they walk on a green floor to the electric chair (ergo, the title). The movie is told as a flashback from the perspective of Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) who is in charge of the death row inmates. His job is to ensure that the prisoners are executed peacefully (whatever that means) since people facing their imminent death can get agitated. To this end, even though the people he's dealing with have been convicted of horrific crimes, he treats them with dignity and respect. Aiding him are Brutus Howell (David Morse), Dean Stanton (Barry Pepper) and Harry Terwilleger (Jeffrey DeMunn). In addition, there is Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison), a newly-appointed guard whose sole reason for being there is to satisfy his sadistic pleasure of watching someone be put to death on the electric chair.

The movie picks up pace when a new inmate, Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), is brought in for the murder of two young white girls. Coffey, a black and lumbering giant, is not clearly aware of his circumstance, and even though he is innocent there is little chance that anyone would believe him. But Edgecomb soon discovers that Coffey has special healing powers and they forge a strong bond. A lot of the movie is spent exploring the positive bond between Edgecomb and Coffey, contrasted to the negativity that Percy brings to the proceedings (with horrific consequences).

Like I said, the movie touches upon many topics, and each of them is worthy of comment. It illustrates the true nature of the death penalty, showing how cruel and barbaric it is as well as showing how innocent people can easily be put in positions where they are executed unjustly. The movie also touches upon the issue of Judeo-Christian faith and god, and as an atheist, I found it the least interesting topic (it's also not sufficiently explored except to illustrate that god wouldn't have given powers like the kind Coffey has if Coffey truly was destined to be a child killer). The movie is about compassion---Coffey is a Christ-like figure who dies for humanity's sins, crucified by people who don't know better. Yet he himself is not capable of complete forgiveness (unlike good old JC), and a key portion of the plot involves him getting his revenge (to the rousing cheers of the audience). But as I say above, ultimately what ties all of this together is that everyone seeks to harm someone else, whether justified or not. The parents of the children Coffey is believed to have killed have venom in their minds against him. Percy and a maniacal prison inmate (Sam Rockwell) seek nothing more than perverse destruction. Even the prison guards really have one sole purpose: to help kill. Coffey appears to be the only one who truly seeks to heal, but that is not without exception either and in the end, he too kills with his love.

The film is powerful and emotive, thanks to brilliant performances by a great cast. Hanks is solid as ever, but the real credit for the film must go to Duncan, who is able to deliver a preachy message without proselytising too much. When Duncan talks about the harm humanity inflicts on one other, with tears rolling down his cheek, it is an extremely poignant and telling moment. The ending bit (where Edgecomb tells about living too long) was unnecessary I thought and detracted from an otherwise perfect film. When Edgecomb talks about the same sorts of issues Duncan talks about, it doesn't come off as sincere and heart-felt. Hutchinson and Rockwell portray the least-likeable characters in the film and they pull it off well.

I've read almost all of Stephen King's books and this is a movie that captures in spirit his profound story-telling style (in general). King's stories mix idealism and cynicism well (mostly leaning towards the latter), using the supernatural as a plot device. They present a rather bleak world view because of their exploration of human darkness. While the film does end up portraying a sanitised view of King's vision, underneath the surface lies the depiction of how depraved we "civilised" beings can behave.

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Characters, Theme and Cinematic Devices in Movie "The Green Mile"

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Introduction, genre, settings & structure, conflicts of the film, characterization, narrator point of view, cinematic devices, personal impression, society vs individual:.

• William Wharton Is a conflict in himself, creating large oppsticals and problems for the officers at the prison.
• The society judges not John by his false crime, but by the color of his skin.
• There is a lot of references to mental hospital as well as cancer, bladder infection and so one.
• In the movie, light has a soul purpose. When John does one of his miracles on one of the characters in the movie, the lights goes crazy. Usually they will flair, like when he healed Paul’s bladder infection that he had been struggling with for a while.
• Making the question surrounding the supernatural and god more individual for each of the characters.
• Showing by their swarthy for heads and soaked shirt, the conditions of the 1930s is not pretty.
• The long corridors emphasizes that it is the long green mile, that every character is individually walking their path on.

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The Green Mile

Stephen king, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Stephen King's The Green Mile . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Green Mile: Introduction

The green mile: plot summary, the green mile: detailed summary & analysis, the green mile: themes, the green mile: quotes, the green mile: characters, the green mile: symbols, the green mile: theme wheel, brief biography of stephen king.

Historical Context of The Green Mile

Other books related to the green mile.

• Full Title: The Green Mile
• When Written: 1995-1996
• Where Written: United States
• When Published: 1996
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Mystery, Magical Realism
• Setting: Depression-Era American South
• Climax: Eduard Delacroix’s execution
• Antagonist: Percy Wetmore
• Point of View: First-person (Paul)

Extra Credit for The Green Mile

Six-Volume Publication. The Green Mile was first published serially in six volumes, released over the course of six months.

Movie Adaptation. The movie adaptation of The Green Mile , released three years after the book’s publication, was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The Green Mile Review

25 Feb 2000

189 minutes

Green Mile, The

Straight up, Frank Darabont is a "great" in the making. The story-is-God dedication that transformed The Shawshank Redemption into a modern classic is much in evidence in this lavish, confident fantasy drama, but he may be hamstringing himself with his dogged devotion to pop-horror guru Stephen King's prison-inspired output. The Green Mile impresses, shines, awes, jabs the heart at moments, but it is no Shawshank. King wrote the book as an experiment in serialised fiction - six even parts each cliffhangered to the next - and at a bot-busting three-plus hours, the movie feels like watching a whole mini-series in one sitting. There's certainly a lot of great stuff here. But be warned, youll need stamina.

Directing, Darabont was reputedly infuriatingly meticulous, every scene finessed with a Kubrick-esque repetition of takes in search of perfection. It has paid off. This slowburn 30s-set tale of a prison Death Row (the corridor, here lime green, is known as the mile) shaken by the arrival of a dim-witted giant (Clarke Duncan) accused of slaughtering two baby girls, is a paragon to expert detail.

The performances are subtle, the script (by Darabont) faithful to King's prose, the style elegant and poised and the big moments suitably grandiose. The crux of the matter is that the gentle seven-footer John Coffey has the miraculous, quasi-Holy power to heal. And heal he does, from narrator and Row boss Paul Edgecomb's (Hanks) graphic urinary infection, to pet mouse Mr. Jingles, squashed by the Rows bullyboy new recruit Percy Wetmore (Hutchison). All of which, combined with Coffey's ethereal view of what separates the good and bad, convinces the rattled Edgecomb that he must be innocent.

Over the epic running time the film inches its way through a complex soap opera of events on the Row, punctuated by three pivotal and grisly executions via "Old Sparky", the electric chair. And, a la Saving Private Ryan, the story is told care of a mysterious flashback framework. All of which works brilliantly. Yet, when denouements unravel and Coffey works his magic - marked by a freaky spewing of tiny black insects into the air - it is all far less staggering than the build up signals. In the main this is down to the sheer length - and so much of it superfluous - that patience is exhausted and drama dampened. There is also a lot less going on here than Darabont reckons, ostensibly boiling down to a simple take on the evil-that-men-do.

Polished it is, profound it ain't. A big, tasty meal that lacks the nourishment of Shawshank.It is harsh, though, to judge solely against such a startling debut and The Green Mile is about as accomplished a piece of storytelling as you'll come by. Morse, Clarke Duncan, Bonnie Hunt as Edgecomb's wife and, especially, Hutchison weave their own acting magic. Hanks everyman routine may have become so ingrained it virtually doesn't register, but you can't imagine the movie without him. And Darabont, the real star, is a director in a classic-tradition. Give him a story and he delivers a real movie. Time, though, to ditch King.

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The green mile, common sense media reviewers.

Compassionate movie, but has stereotypes, violence, cursing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Kindness, compassion, and miracles, even in the mo

The warden in charge of the Death Row block of a L

Characterizations draw heavily from stereotype: Ta

A man is found sitting in a field with two dead li

One of the prison guards is shown leafing through

Frequent profanity, including variations of "f--k.

Beer drinking, no one drunk.

Parents need to know that The Green Mile is a 1999 movie based on a Stephen King novel in which a newly incarcerated man on Death Row has a miraculous gift. The film hasn't aged well, most notably in the way it leans on the "magical Black person" stereotype that dehumanizes Black characters by turning them…

Positive Messages

Kindness, compassion, and miracles, even in the most dismal environments and circumstances. Through a graphic scene, capital punishment by the electric chair is shown to be cruel and unusual. The importance of ensuring that people be allowed to live out their final days with dignity.

Positive Role Models

The warden in charge of the Death Row block of a Louisiana prison in the 1930s demands that the officers under him comport themselves with decency and respect in their dealings with those incarcerated. A man mistakenly believed to have murdered two young girls in cold blood displays remarkable kindness and compassion despite the gross injustice levied against him.

Diverse Representations

Characterizations draw heavily from stereotype: Tall, broad-shouldered Black man is tokenized and "scary," his size emphasized through low camera angle that sometimes leaves his head off-frame. But he's "likable" to the film's White characters due to child-like traits, constant deference -- always calling White men "boss" and White women "ma'am" -- and, above all, his magical powers that help their afflictions such as a bladder infection or dementia. He's literally a "magical Black person," a media trend that dehumanizes Black characters by turning them into supernatural helpers of White protagonists. In this case, he willingly chooses to die after having cured a White woman's dementia and is survived by a White man (and a mouse). Disability is also poorly rendered; it's implied that the Black character has a learning disability given his slow speech. Disabled characters consciously choosing to die -- the implication being that death is a preferred fate to living with a disability -- is also an unfortunate cliché that this film indulges in.

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Violence & Scariness

A man is found sitting in a field with two dead little girls in his arms. Graphic depictions of execution by electric chair, including a botched execution in which the man being executed clearly suffers excruciating pain as he is burned to death. Altercations with one of the men on Death Row include fights, violent restraining, a kick to the groin, sexual harassment. (Someone grabs one of the guards and kisses him on the face while grabbing his buttocks. In another scene, he makes a lewd joke about how he wants Mae West to perform a sexual act with him.) A mouse is stomped to death, crunching sound audible. Little girls shown in peril as they're kidnapped by a criminal.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

One of the prison guards is shown leafing through a magazine of sex-themed cartoons. Implied sex between husband and wife.

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Frequent profanity, including variations of "f--k." "N" word used by antagonists. "Sambo" also used. Outdated terms "colored" and "negro" used in a 1930s setting. Slurs "retarded," "imbecile," and "f--got" used as insults. "Son of a bitch." "S--t." "D--k." "Hell." "Jesus Christ." "goddammit."

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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Green Mile is a 1999 movie based on a Stephen King novel in which a newly incarcerated man on Death Row has a miraculous gift. The film hasn't aged well, most notably in the way it leans on the "magical Black person" stereotype that dehumanizes Black characters by turning them into supernatural helpers of White main characters. Disability is also poorly rendered, as people with mental disabilities are shown as either extremely violent or extremely meek, evil or angelic, with nothing in between. In the film's most graphic scene, a man is brutally killed by a botched electric chair execution: He screams in excruciating pain as his skin visibly and audibly sizzles; comment is later made about how the smell of the execution will linger in the prison for a long time. A man is shown sitting in a field with two dead little girls in both arms. Audiences hear use of the "N" word, other slurs like "f--got" and "retarded," and the obsolete "colored" designation. Frequent profanity includes variations on "f--k." In a tense standoff with one of the incarcerated men, a guard wets his pants. Themes of racism, criminal justice, capital punishment, miracles, and faith even in the direst environments and the treatment of adults living in nursing homes are conveyed throughout this movie and may provoke discussion and debate between parents and mature teens. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In THE GREEN MILE, Paul Edgecombe ( Tom Hanks ) is a Depression-era Louisiana prison guard. His responsibility is overseeing Death Row, called "The Green Mile" because of the color of the floor between the cells and the electric chair. Newly incarcerated John Coffey ( Michael Clarke Duncan ) is a Black man convicted of raping and murdering two little White girls. He's a gentle man with the mysterious ability to heal. Edgecombe treats the other characters with kindness, incarcerated and colleagues alike. In sharp contrast, antagonists like another guard or one of the incarcerated men are petty and cruel.

Is It Any Good?

This is a compassionate and well-intended movie with outstanding direction. The plot veers into melodrama at times, with at least one coincidence that's overly convenient, but the humanity of the guards keeps the movie on track most of the time. Hanks plays his most recognizable character type: someone fair, kind, and capable. Bonnie Hunt 's performance as Edgecombe's loving wife is a pleasure to watch. Doug Hutchison is terrific as Percy, the nephew of the governor's wife who's assigned to work for Edgecombe and whose combined arrogance and insecurity lead to disaster. And while it's unfortunate that Duncan is forced to shoulder an amalgam of stereotypes, his stellar performance showcases Coffey's innocence and goodness.

It's pretty easy to make a movie where the hero saves the Earth from asteroids or blasts the villains into smithereens, because those kinds of battles give us lots of very cool stuff to look at. It's a lot harder to make a movie that highlights the heroism of small gestures. Teens, who may feel that the problems of the world are too overwhelming to address, can learn from this movie that a small courtesy can have an enormous impact. Just be ready to discuss the ways in which The Green Mile reduces Black and mentally disabled characters into stereotypes.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the idea that a person might have an extraordinary talent to heal, where that power might come from, and what the responsibilities and burdens might be. Must that ability be accompanied, as it is in John Coffey, with the agonizing experience of "feeling the pain of the world"? Can someone be a healer without experiencing the pain they relieve in others? What can be healed, and what cannot?

The movie is primarily set in two institutional locations: a prison and a nursing home. What are the similar and different ways in which these two places are shown, and how do they play into the movie's overall themes and messages?

What would be the challenges in adapting a novel into a movie? Are novels generally better or worse than the movies based on them? What are some examples of each?

Discuss the character of John Coffey. Is it positive to see a Black character depicted to such angelic levels of "goodness," or is it flattening and dehumanizing? Is it benign or troubling that a Black man with a mental disability is shown willing to accept death by electric chair when he had the opportunity to safely escape?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 10, 1999
• On DVD or streaming : June 13, 2000
• Cast : Bonnie Hunt , Michael Clarke Duncan , Tom Hanks
• Director : Frank Darabont
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Drama
• Character Strengths : Compassion , Integrity
• Run time : 188 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence, language and some sex-related material
• Last updated : January 3, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Green Mile: A Cinematic Masterpiece of Multifaceted Storytelling

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Introduction

Overview of "the green mile", sadness and humor.

Extraordinary Events

The Green Mile: A Cinematic Masterpiece of Multifaceted Storytelling. (2022, Feb 26). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/an-analysis-of-the-film-green-mile-essay

"The Green Mile: A Cinematic Masterpiece of Multifaceted Storytelling." StudyMoose , 26 Feb 2022, https://studymoose.com/an-analysis-of-the-film-green-mile-essay

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Review: ‘Green Border’ is an unflinching look at Poland’s migrant crisis, one with global resonance

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The luckless souls inhabiting Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” have little light in their eyes. A grim drama about Europe’s refugee crisis (a subject that’s been explored in equally superb recent Oscar-nominated films like “Flee” and “Io Capitano”), the movie chronicles this labyrinthine tragedy from three disparate perspectives: those of a migrant family, a ragtag group of activists and a morally blind border guard.

And yet, their despairing expressions are the same. The purpose of such films is to attach a human face to unimaginable tragedies, to put us in the shoes of society’s most vulnerable, but what’s most striking is how Holland extends that approach to everyone her camera captures, whether the oppressors or the oppressed. To varying degrees, each character has been undone by this crisis; all of them are collateral damage at the mercy of something larger and more insidious just out of view.

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Set in October 2021 on the border between Poland and Belarus — the border between democracy and dictatorship — and shot in black and white, “Green Border” opens with a family of Syrian refugees, led by father Bashir (Jalal Altawil), on a flight landing in Belarus. Three generations, tired but hopeful, will be making their way to Poland with the ultimate goal of reuniting with a relative in Sweden. Another passenger, an older Afghan woman named Leila (Behi Djanati Atai), who, like them, is fleeing war for sanctuary in the European Union, attaches herself to Bashir’s family to have companions while navigating what might be an arduous journey.

We quickly learn just how arduous. After being picked up at the airport by a nondescript van, Bashir, Leila and the rest are stopped at a security checkpoint in the middle of the forested countryside. Sudden distant gunfire sends them scrambling toward a barbwire border fence, their luggage unceremoniously flung over the barrier by guards as the van speeds away. Welcome to Poland — except, soon, local authorities violently force them back into Belarus. Nobody wants these foreigners, unless they can be bled dry financially, armed soldiers demanding bribes for necessities such as water.

The film’s second narrative strand concerns Jan (Tomasz Włosok), an amiable Polish border guard brainwashed by his superiors into assuming that all refugees are secretly terrorists plotting to destroy Poland. (“One mistake,” Jan’s commander warns during a briefing, “and in six months we’ll have a bomb on the Warsaw subway.”) While Bashir and his children run for their lives, Jan is about to start a family with his young wife, trying not to be bothered by the plight of the outsiders he’s successfully othered in his head.

Lastly, Holland introduces us to Julia (Maja Ostaszewska), a widowed Polish psychiatrist who vows to dedicate herself to helping refugees find safe passage. However, her friends aren’t as willing to stick their necks out: As one supposed fellow liberal Pole tells her after refusing to loan Julia her van, “What if they catch you and tie it to me?” It’s not just callous border guards who have hardened their hearts.

Holland, a politically outspoken filmmaker who has plumbed the darkness of the Holocaust ( “Europa Europa,” “In Darkness” ), views this modern humanitarian crisis as equally deplorable. And the three-time Oscar nominee, who turned 75 in November, has lost none of her anger or willingness to provoke. “Green Border” condemns her homeland’s abusive behavior toward migrants. It resulted in the film being attacked ahead of its Venice premiere by the Polish right-wing government, which recklessly and ludicrously compared it to Nazi propaganda.

Happily, some of those government officials were recently defeated at the polls, while “Green Border” remains unbowed: a brutal document about a seemingly hopeless situation. Indeed, when the idealistic Julia teams up with some experienced young activists — including pragmatic leader Marta (Monika Frajczyk) — she discovers the realities of trying to make a difference. No matter these good samaritans’ efforts, refugees will drown in swamps. Others are too heavy to carry to safety and constant border patrols make it nearly impossible to escape detection. They can’t rescue everyone. It’s about picking their battles, many of which they’ll lose.

Across the separate plot lines, there’s a dourness to the characters, underlined by the spare performances. Holland has cast actors who often share similarities with their roles: Altawil is himself a Syrian refugee, while Ostaszewska has aided migrants at the border. The script, co-written by Holland, draws from actual incidents, although the film’s snaking story lacks showy moments or big speeches. Similarly, cinematographer Tomasz Naumiuk’s handheld monochrome images are pristine while avoiding self-conscious prettiness.

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Instead, what lingers is a collective misery and the invisibly masterful choreography of chaos, rage and death. As one might expect, those narrative threads will occasionally intertwine, sometimes leading to too-tidy dramatic ironies that run counter to the blunt-force shock of what otherwise unfolds. “Green Border” is most riveting when it succumbs to the senselessness of the world it portrays, the characters futilely battling an overarching system of oppression and intolerance. If Altawil articulates Bashir’s panic and fear, Włosok is equally adept at capturing Jan’s gradual moral awakening: His complicity, which has guaranteed him a steady paycheck, grows into a spiritual cancer that eats away at him.

Clearly, even an army of Julias isn’t enough to repair the societal rot. “Green Border” also examines the everyday instances of cowardice and fear that perpetuate this migrant crisis. It’s the farmer who shows Leila kindness but then reports her to the cops. It’s the woman at the grocery store who’s adamant that refugees don’t deserve compassion. It’s the casual bigotry and distrust disguised as national security.

Holland’s heart breaks for Bashir and Leila, but she never reduces them to simplistically pitiable figures. She teases out the flickers of Jan’s developing conscience and his realization that he’s as disposable as the migrants he’s paid to dispatch. These atrocities are ongoing and, like with Jan, Holland wants to challenge viewers to feel complicit because of our inaction.

“Why are you doing this to us?” an anguished Leila screams at one point at indifferent border guards. No one responds. Whether it’s Poland’s border or one closer to our own, that silence is deafening and damning.

'Green Border'

Not rated In Polish, Arabic and French, with subtitles Running time: 2 hours, 32 minutes Playing: Opens Friday at Laemmle Royal, West Los Angeles

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