The adaptation of Steven King's novel, "The Green Mile", became one of the most successful and critically acclaimed movies in history when it was released. One can see why; it tackles extremely sensitive subjects, above all, the death penalty, is served by an excellent cast, and combines timely ideas with creepy atmosphere. It's the supernatural and the philosophical, in one cell, walking together on the Green Mile.
The Green Mile is the name of a green line that leads the inmates of American prisons to the electric chair. This is what is destined to happen to John Coffey (Michael Clark Duncan), a huge, tall black man who had been found with the corpses of two girls. In 1930's Louisiana, this means death, and the prisoner is treated accordingly, that is, with little respect and consideration of his welfare.
As are all others: the prison is an inhospitable place, in which everyone has to make up for their lost lives with the most little of luxuries; a bar of chocolate is for them something sacred, everything matters more when you'll die soon. Most of the inmates behave carelessly, as if they had their whole life in front of them. Of course they know what their future beholds, they intentionally ignore it in order to forget their fate. They prefer to focus on the present than the frightening future. All of us fear death, but witnessing the execution sequences truly extinguished every little doubt I had about my position towards it. It's, indeed, something unfathomably gruesome to die like that.
When the prisoners are executed, they have no one to wish them goodbye. The people in the audience are all hostile towards them; relatives ashamed to have any relation with them, ordinary citizens whose conscience condemns the accused's crime, and, above all, the loved ones of the victims for whose death these prisoners are executed. The prisoners don't have much time to think , but in the little they do, most of them seem to be dominated by fear. Can one regret such a serious "mistake" at the time of their death? I truly don't know. The film doesn't state that explicitly, but it invites to think and to enter the minds of the inmates, search for any trace of humanity inside.
In fact, there's plenty of that in some. While the movie doesn't portray them as completely innocent and moral - this would habe been impossible considering their crimes - it makes an effort at showing their human side. When one of them pets a mouse , we are invited to love this act of love towards a creature expressed by a criminal. He is presented as the one we are supposed to like, while the policeman that ultimately tries to kill the animal is portrayed in a wholly negative light. Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchinson), is a person working there due to nepotism only. He has no sense of sympathy for the prisoners, and treats them with denigration. He behaves like a spoilt child - this one without an itinerary - who wants all of his wishes fulfilled while ignoring everyone else's state, especially those that are affected the most by his decision. The one that tries to obstruct him from doing that is Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), who sees the man inside of the beast, and understands that even these people are in need of decent treatment while imprisoned. His friendship with Coffey will be the beginning of the end for his career, since it is in him that he discovers not only a magical power, but also a metaphorical one, the one of forgiveness.
Coffey is condemned, yet he doesn't seem to care. He just sits calm and helps everyone. Paul is impressed by this man's immersive character, and discovers on the way that he truly possesses a talent for the supernatural. He has the ability suck every negative experience, and pain from a person and , if he likes, transport it onto another. This raises some questions: is one affected by someone else's negative deeds (even in this creepy, totally imaginary way)? Coffey seems to believe that this is true. And so when he transports Paul's intestinal problem onto Percy, he essentially condemns him - metaphorically, the condemned sentences the condamner - to pain for his cruelty.
Paul grows old, and the movie ends. There is, of course, no need to describe the ending, it is already known who will die and who will live to see the future. Paul does, but the memories of Coffey's execution haunt him forever. He, with his magic, has also punished the warden; he has made him live for too long. Most of us wish for longevity, but we often tend to forget that means losing our loved ones, who often have shorter lives than we do. Paul has suffered such loses, and life is unbearable to him. Because of memories. Memory has been the subject of the cinema for a long time; How we can create memories, how memories of important events stay in our minds even though we haven't lived them, and so on. The type of memories present in "The Green Mile" are the most classic kind; incriminating ones, that cause guilt for letting something bad happening. Paul couldn't have done else anyways; it's the lawmakers of the State that condemn one to death, and a simple warden can't transcend the limits of the law. The magazine Télérama had complained about the movie not deploring the death penalty, but they missed the point, in the sense that it is presented from the perspective of a man working in this system, who, even if he doesn't entirely approve of it, cannot defy it. He is just obligated to follow its rules, however immoral they seem to some people. Dear Télérama, with all due respect, I'm telling you, twenty-two years later, that this time you missed.
You missed because you didn't see the deeper questions that this movie asks, and condemned it for not doing something that it couldn't due to its narrative character. You missed since this movie wasn't only a "Christian tale" - as you called it, although it could've been interpreted through this lens too - but also a more philosophical one, that combined a seemingly indifferent story if for the fans of the supernatural genre, with an interesting conclusion that justifies its three hour-long duration. This time, the wrong film walked the Green Mile.
The Green Mile is the name of a green line that leads the inmates of American prisons to the electric chair. This is what is destined to happen to John Coffey (Michael Clark Duncan), a huge, tall black man who had been found with the corpses of two girls. In 1930's Louisiana, this means death, and the prisoner is treated accordingly, that is, with little respect and consideration of his welfare.
As are all others: the prison is an inhospitable place, in which everyone has to make up for their lost lives with the most little of luxuries; a bar of chocolate is for them something sacred, everything matters more when you'll die soon. Most of the inmates behave carelessly, as if they had their whole life in front of them. Of course they know what their future beholds, they intentionally ignore it in order to forget their fate. They prefer to focus on the present than the frightening future. All of us fear death, but witnessing the execution sequences truly extinguished every little doubt I had about my position towards it. It's, indeed, something unfathomably gruesome to die like that.
When the prisoners are executed, they have no one to wish them goodbye. The people in the audience are all hostile towards them; relatives ashamed to have any relation with them, ordinary citizens whose conscience condemns the accused's crime, and, above all, the loved ones of the victims for whose death these prisoners are executed. The prisoners don't have much time to think , but in the little they do, most of them seem to be dominated by fear. Can one regret such a serious "mistake" at the time of their death? I truly don't know. The film doesn't state that explicitly, but it invites to think and to enter the minds of the inmates, search for any trace of humanity inside.
In fact, there's plenty of that in some. While the movie doesn't portray them as completely innocent and moral - this would habe been impossible considering their crimes - it makes an effort at showing their human side. When one of them pets a mouse , we are invited to love this act of love towards a creature expressed by a criminal. He is presented as the one we are supposed to like, while the policeman that ultimately tries to kill the animal is portrayed in a wholly negative light. Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchinson), is a person working there due to nepotism only. He has no sense of sympathy for the prisoners, and treats them with denigration. He behaves like a spoilt child - this one without an itinerary - who wants all of his wishes fulfilled while ignoring everyone else's state, especially those that are affected the most by his decision. The one that tries to obstruct him from doing that is Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), who sees the man inside of the beast, and understands that even these people are in need of decent treatment while imprisoned. His friendship with Coffey will be the beginning of the end for his career, since it is in him that he discovers not only a magical power, but also a metaphorical one, the one of forgiveness.
Coffey is condemned, yet he doesn't seem to care. He just sits calm and helps everyone. Paul is impressed by this man's immersive character, and discovers on the way that he truly possesses a talent for the supernatural. He has the ability suck every negative experience, and pain from a person and , if he likes, transport it onto another. This raises some questions: is one affected by someone else's negative deeds (even in this creepy, totally imaginary way)? Coffey seems to believe that this is true. And so when he transports Paul's intestinal problem onto Percy, he essentially condemns him - metaphorically, the condemned sentences the condamner - to pain for his cruelty.
Paul grows old, and the movie ends. There is, of course, no need to describe the ending, it is already known who will die and who will live to see the future. Paul does, but the memories of Coffey's execution haunt him forever. He, with his magic, has also punished the warden; he has made him live for too long. Most of us wish for longevity, but we often tend to forget that means losing our loved ones, who often have shorter lives than we do. Paul has suffered such loses, and life is unbearable to him. Because of memories. Memory has been the subject of the cinema for a long time; How we can create memories, how memories of important events stay in our minds even though we haven't lived them, and so on. The type of memories present in "The Green Mile" are the most classic kind; incriminating ones, that cause guilt for letting something bad happening. Paul couldn't have done else anyways; it's the lawmakers of the State that condemn one to death, and a simple warden can't transcend the limits of the law. The magazine Télérama had complained about the movie not deploring the death penalty, but they missed the point, in the sense that it is presented from the perspective of a man working in this system, who, even if he doesn't entirely approve of it, cannot defy it. He is just obligated to follow its rules, however immoral they seem to some people. Dear Télérama, with all due respect, I'm telling you, twenty-two years later, that this time you missed.
You missed because you didn't see the deeper questions that this movie asks, and condemned it for not doing something that it couldn't due to its narrative character. You missed since this movie wasn't only a "Christian tale" - as you called it, although it could've been interpreted through this lens too - but also a more philosophical one, that combined a seemingly indifferent story if for the fans of the supernatural genre, with an interesting conclusion that justifies its three hour-long duration. This time, the wrong film walked the Green Mile.