Introduction
Green Mile is a movie that premiered in 1999 and was directed by Frank Darabont, a talented film producer famous for such works as The Shawshank Redemption and The Walking Dead. The movie is based on Stephen King’s novel with the same title. Green Mile is a drama and mystery firm starring many famous actors, including Tom Hanks (Paul Edgecomb), Michael Clark Duncan (John Coffey), and David Morse (Brutus Howell). At the time, the movie was nominated for four Academy Awards prizes for the best actor, the best actor in supporting role, the best sound, and the best screenplay based on a previously published material (IMDb). Green Mile is a powerfully dramatic and mysterious narrative that is worth seeing because its story remains relevant in today’s unfair and cruel society.
Summary
The movie begins with Paul Edgecomb, an older man who tells a story of his life to a woman from the nursery home. The narrative goes back to 1935, when Paul worked as a death row prison officer. One day, an unusually large man named John Coffey is admitted to prison, and he is charged with the rape and murder of two young girls. At first, very little is known about the man, and the prison officers focus on the other inmates who are waiting for their turn to be executed.
However, one time, when Paul Edgecomb struggles with pain, he realizes that John Coffey has a mystery gift of healing. After this gift saves Warden Hal Moores’s wife, Paul starts to seriously question if John was really guilty of murder and assault. Sometime later, the real murderer is found, and everyone understands that John is innocent. However, Coffey cannot forgive himself for not saving those two girls, and he agrees to be executed to set himself free of pain. The gift of healing passes on to Paul Edgecomb, who now must live forever and see how everyone he loves leaves him one by one.
Film Genre Criteria
The most significant criterion of every dramatic film is the number of emotionally driven characters. Their actions are usually based on feelings and relationships with each other. In Green Mile, every single character has their own emotional background that affects their decisions. For example, John Coffey’s desire to let go of the guilt for not saving the girls makes him pass on Melinda Moores’s sickness to Percy, who later kills the real murderer of the girls. Similarly, Paul Edgecomb is emotionally driven to reconsider his attitude to justice and doubt someone’s guilt because this person is too good to commit such a cruel crime.
Another criterion is the large number of conflicts that lead to some unpredictable actions. In Green Mile, people are involved in both conflicts with each other and within their personalities. For example, John Coffey lives in a constant battle with himself because he knows that he lives to save people’s lives, but, at the same time, he feels like he does not deserve to live. No matter how many lives he might save, John Coffey will always feel guilty for the death of two innocent girls. An excellent example of an interpersonal conflict is the relationship between Percy Wetmore with everyone he talks to throughout the movie, as he represents the flaws of society people to destroy and forget once and for all.
Finally, it is necessary to talk about a criterion specific to a mystery genre. In mystery movies, characters try to solve a puzzle, and this solution must shock the viewer. In Green Mile, John Coffey and Paul Edgecomb try to solve the mystery of finding a true murderer and freeing Coffey from execution. However, even when they solve the mystery, John Coffey still waits for his turn on the death row, and such a decision makes viewers feel confused and frustrated with injustice.
Shortcomings
Since the movie has been popular with the audience for more than twenty years, it is obvious that some viewers do not see this movie as the greatest example of world cinematography. There are who people blame the director for appealing too much to people’s emotions without creating a powerful and symbolic narrative. In fact, it is hard to argue with the fact that the vast majority of characters in Green Mile are not portrayed fully as personalities, and little information is given on their background. Instead, people rely only on emotional attachment to the situation. Moreover, some people express the opinion that there are moments in the original Stephen King’s novel that should have been included in the movie. For example, Stephen King wrote that there was explicit proof of John Coffey’s innocence, and this information could have brought a totally new meaning to the execution scene.
Conclusion
The modern world of cinematography is full of various movies, but only a few of them have become successful and popular with people of different generations. Green Mile is a prime example of a movie that exists beyond time and society because every person may find something meaningful for themselves when watching this motion picture. Thus, despite the existing criticism and controversial opinions about the film, Green Mile is a classic dramatic movie worth seeing because it makes every single viewer become emotionally vulnerable and think about how they would act in a similar situation.
Work Cited
IMDb. “Green Mile.”IMDb.