The Green Mile: A Really Strong Movie

Some movies do more than just entertain, they touch your soul. The Green Mile (1999) is certainly one of them.

It is not an easy movie to sum up in a few words. Therefore, we have decided to dedicate this article to the wonderful creation of “The Seventh Art”.

A unique film

We are not just saying that, it really is the only one of its kind. Why? First, The Green Mile is one of the films that is difficult to catalog or label. Some critics define it as a drama. Others say it is a mystery or a thriller. Some people even say that it fits best in the science fiction genre.

Truly, they are all right in putting it into those genres. But at the same time, they are also wrong. The green mile probably has different elements to belong to in all of these categories, without belonging to any of them. It’s actually a adaptation of a Stephen King book of the same name.

This film is not only unique because it is difficult to classify. It also has completely unique characters, plots and context. The main character is a prison guard named Paul Edgecomb. His job is to guard the prisoners sentenced to death at Cold Mountain Penitentiary (nicknamed “the green mile”) in Louisiana in the 1930s.

Edgecomb, along with his team of prison guards, begins to experience strange things after the arrival of an unusual inmate, John Coffey. Coffey is a black man who is well over 2 meters tall. He is extremely strong and extremely sensitive. Over time, Coffey shows how special he is, thanks to his amazing power.

The emotions of The Green Mile

Emotion is the true star of The Green Mile.

Paul and John are, on paper, co-characters. But having said that, emotion is an element that is present throughout the film. We say this because one of the film’s achievements is the many different emotions it can evoke in the viewer. It can be funny, intensely dramatic, tense and even scary.

John Coffey is what drives the emotional force. Despite being sentenced to death for allegedly murdering two little girls, this mysterious prisoner seems as sensitive, naive and optimistic as a child. There is a clear contrast between the way he behaves and the way we can perceive him based on his large size.

John also has a special power: He can get rid of the diseases that eat up people. As the story progresses, he uses that power on more and more people. His extreme sensitivity gives him the opportunity to be empathetic with anyone in pain and he uses his power to give them relief.

John Coffey’s undeniable kindness

Are some people purely good, while others are purely evil? Personally, I do not think so. I think there are actions, behaviors and attitudes that we can describe in these terms, but even that tends to be a reductive and simplified view of reality.

However, John is definitely one of those people you can generally describe as good. The power we mentioned above makes him a person who tries to do good almost as an instinct.

His character is a representation of acting based on a well-developed moral compass. He uses his power for all who need it, whether they have been kind to him or not.

The Green Mile: A Sad Lesson

In a hateful environment where people carry weapons, kill and abuse their power, John Coffey is almost like a miracle. He is a powerful force of nature. The root of that power is love, which he expresses in many different ways, as in his enjoyment of the little things.

If this supernatural man were to appear in our lives, we would basically have no choice but to take care of him so that he could continue to do good in the world. So that he could do better with each person that his life touched.

But that’s not what’s going on in the movie. Due to the series of events and the fact that John is a black man in America, he has no happy ending. Eventually he is killed by the electric chair. The strange thing is that he seems to want it to be his end.

In an insensitive world , his hypersensitivity causes more pain than he can seem to bear. But the real world, the one we live in, is not really that different from the world of the Green Mile. I have a bad feeling that if John were to live in our world, he would have the same unhappy ending.

In life, it seems that some people do well wherever they go, even though they do not know why. But we do not always give these people the treatment they deserve. This is sad because any display of sensitivity in a desensitized world is truly revolutionary.