Introduction
The Green Mile is a 1999 drama film directed by Frank Darabont, who is also a screenwriter and producer. The movie is based on a serialized novel of the same name written by Stephen King, which received the Bram Stoker Award for “Best Novel of 1996.” The plot revolves around a death row in Cold Mountain Penitentiary in 1935 Louisiana. Along with the fantasy element in the form of supernatural abilities possessed by one of the main characters (a prisoner John Coffey) the movie touches on the subject of racism and inequality in court.
Main body
Stephen King’s novel was written in six parts, first published as separate brochures: The Two Dead Girls; The Mouse on the Mile; Coffey’s Hands; The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix; Night Journey; and Coffey on the Mile (Spignesi 29). It is his second work adapted for the screen by the director Frank Darabont, who had also filmed the 1994 Shawshank Redemption based on King’s novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Frank Darabont admitted that he is fond of Stephen King’s works and considers him one of the most prominent contemporary writers. The long-term cooperation of Darabont and King owes to the extremely cinematic literary language of the latter. Every Stephen King novel is a finished script containing the smallest details. Those who are familiar with the book will understand how accurately every detail is captured in the film; there is not a single deviation from the text. When writing the book, King spent several days on a death row; he even fastened himself to an electric chair to complete the sensation.
The picture is set in 1935 (whereas, the events in the novel take place in 1932). It was motivated by the desire to use the footage from the 1935 American comedy film Top Hat starring Fred Astaire, the last request of the capitally convicted Paul Coffey, who wanted to see a “flicker show,” a movie picture (Synopsis for The Green Mile par.22). The shooting took place in North Carolina and Tennessee. Although the movie events occur in the Deep South, in the 1930s during a “period where lynching was still a viable and acceptable means of “enforcing justice”, the contours of this racially oppressive regime are barely hinted at” (Persons 137). When describing the death row setting, King explains the absence of racism by comparing the prisoners to walking dead: “At Cold Mountain, there was no segregation among the walking dead” (King 251). It is somewhat ironic, considering the plot, since it was racism that thrust the main character into prison in the first place (along with an unfortunate misunderstanding).
There are a few discrepancies in the movie; for example, the prison guards are wearing a uniform, whilst this rule did not apply in 1935. It was done to give the appropriate mood to the picture. Another discordance is the fact that death by electric chair was introduced to Louisiana penitentiary in 1941. Before that, convicts were capitally punished by hanging. By all means, the movie and the book represent “a deeply ahistorical work, as they ignore the explicitly horrific ways that blacks were terrorized for even allegedly committing a crime” (Persons 144).
The movie starts with a slow-motion scene of rural people rushing through a field with rifles in their hands. The camera focuses on a man screaming, “shown in a close up, suggesting his significance in the film” (The Green Mile – Opening par.1). He is the father of two girls presumably raped and killed by a black man named John Coffey. The scene cuts to the Georgia Pines Nursing Home, where Paul Edgecomb, the narrator, is to live the last days of his life. The main plot develops in a special death row department in Cold Mountain Penitentiary. The title Green Mile comes from the color of the corridor floor leading to the premises with the electric chair, where officers escort prisoners sentenced to death: “Usually, death row was called “the last mile”; we called ours “the Green Mile” — the floor was the color of faded limes.” (The Green Mile). In the movie, however, it is a kind of director’s metaphor, the image of the path that every person has to overcome immediately before death. John Coffey (played by Michael Clarke Duncan, for whom this part was a launch into stardom), the black man who was convicted of the crime mentioned above, is “giant, and is both bald and very dark-skinned, he is far from a menacing figure. He has a very deep voice, yet he speaks with the gentleness of a child” (Persons 137). Coffey’s behavior, striking in its goodwill and sympathy in relation to other prisoners, casts doubt in the correctional officer in charge of the death row, Paul Edgecombe (played by Tom Hanks). He later finds out that John Coffey possesses an ability to heal people and begins leaning towards the idea that John could not commit such a heinous crime. Although Paul’s work is difficult, he does his best to remain a decent person, treating the prisoners in a friendly manner, trying to be equally fair to them and, possibly, make their last days easier. However, not all correctional officers behave the same way as Paul.
There are ones who would gladly escort John to the electric chair and even press the button to serve the execution. Among them, Percy Wetmore (played by Doug Hutchison), the main antagonist, who ends up in a bad way. When Edgecombe decides to conduct his investigation to establish the truth and prove the innocence of the good-natured giant, John Coffey, he finds out that shortly before the tragedy the father of the girls hired an assistant, Wild Bill. It was him who killed the girls. Coffey found them dead and wanted to vivification then, but it was too late. His supernatural possibilities are one of the reasons he did not resist the police during the arrest and did not try to explain himself after being pinned the heavy charges of children murder. Another is his skin color, which makes it impossible to apply for a rehearing. In addition, John feels guilty for not being able to save the girls; therefore, he sees the upcoming penalty as deserved punishment.
Conclusion
Although disguised, the subject of racial discrimination runs like a golden thread through the movie. According to Persons, The Green Mile signifies “an attempt to couple successively and decouple the link between race, gender, and crime. In The Green Mile King takes the most heinous racial crime that can occur in the eyes of whites (the murder and rape of young white girls by a large, brutal black male) and gradually tears down the links that arc made subconsciously between the socially constructed category of race and the criminal act itself” (Persons 144). It was John Coffey’s skin color that got him in the prison in the first place, and it was his race that ruled out the possibility to obtain justice. “John Coffey was black, like most of the men who came to stay for a while in E Block before dying in Old Sparky’s lap” (King 25).
References
King, Stephen. The Green Mile, New York: Scribner, 2000. Print.
Persons, Georgia Anne. Contemporary Patterns Of Politics, Praxis, And Culture, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2005. Print.
Spignesi, Stephen J. The Essential Stephen King, Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2001. Print.
Synopsis for The Green Mile. IMDb.com, Inc, 2015. Web.
The Green Mile – Opening. WordPress.com, 2011. Web.
The Green Mile. Dir. Frank Darabont. Perf. Tom Hanks, David Morse, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell. Warner Home Video, 2000. Film.