THE GREEN MILE: A Reaction Paper Sittie Haynah M.

Ibrahim The movie was set in a prison ward that housed men who were on their last mile they were on death row. The Green Mile, as they call it, was supervised by head guard Paul Edgecomb and four others who worked with him his confidant Brutus Howell, the veteran Harry Terwilleger, the fairly impulsive Dean Stanton, and the arrogant but coward Percy Wetmore. Everything was then normal in Cellblock E (another name for the jail) until the arrival of a huge man, John Coffey, convicted of the rape and murder of two young girls. Anybody would think that he did the crime because of his size and appearance. But as the story unfolded, we were made to understand that he wasnt really lethalCoffey was a gentle giant. From that scene onwards, I never took my eye off the screen because of my aroused curiosity and intense excitement with the newly introduced character a seemingly tranquil and mysterious man. Probably halfway of the three-hour movie, we were made to realize that Coffey had a gift he is a healer. I would say there is a little mistake on this lagging revelation of his extraordinary powers. Technically, much time was spent in wholesome scenes that dont require any deferment of scepticism. But now, all of a sudden, the spectators were forced to adjust mindsets when a bunch of replicated flies came out of Coffeys mouth. Aside from this, I mentioned earlier that it had a considerable length of about three hours which I somehow worried about. But then again, the movie was superb! I thought of no reason to worry about these modest flaws because The Green Mile never dragged for a moment. On the lighter side, the actors delivered well in portraying their roles. Tom Hanks (Edgecomb) maintained his likable protagonist image that treated the prisoners with civility, and Doug Hutchison (Percy, a sociopathic guard with a Napoleon Complex) did a fantastic job in making us hate him. He even triggered hisses from the audience when he stomped on a mischievous mouse, Mr. Jingles. I seriously cursed Percy for that! Sam Rockwell (Wild Bill Wharton, a psychopathic inmate) was also commendable in doing his unpredictable and, at times, nauseating actions. The two other prisoners (Bitterbuck and Delacroix), whose crimes were never mentioned, added humour to the film with each of their lines but they were electrocuted, giving us the primary lesson about the horrors of capital punishment. On top of them all was Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey) who I think performed an outstanding part considering that he was too gigantic to act as if he were a frightened dog or someone with a childs level of intellect. Notwithstanding the incongruity of his size and his characters traits, Duncan was able to depict his role in a very believable manner. Meanwhile, the cinematography was splendid and the direction was unblemished. Darabont, the director, generated an ambience of rigid, continual anticipation by reducing the prison conditions (the death row is hygienic and hushed) to let the human drama capture center stage. Generally, the human spirit was the main theme of the movie, the nature of good and wickedness, death and dignity. What I obviously liked about The Green Mile were the emotionally gut-wrenching moments which had me sobbing for quite a while (Dels and Coffeys executions, for instance). The dialogues were heavy, hitting us straight into our hearts and leaving marks into our minds. Many may find the movie to be too long, but I for one was enchanted with the approach, mix of unfussiness of events and profundity of characters and conversation. Certainly, The Green Mile holds to the audience on an emotional level that persists to resonate after the credits roll, which by itself is reason enough to recommend the movie.