GREEN MILE Explained: John Coffey and Paul Edgecombe (2023)

THE POWER OF NOT USE THE POWER

At first glance, movies about the prison system, prisons, inmates, and jailers seem very particular, far removed from the reality of the common viewer. Likewise, Frank Darabont's The Green Mile tells his story in a universal language common to all humanity and cinematographic media, which serves to draw a metaphor between everyday life and routine inE blocknocold mountainPenitentiary. In addition, both Stephen King's novel and Darabont's adaptation avoid falling into the banal black and white narrative with antagonists and protagonists divided by the law and the bar association. He went from there to understand that it is crucial to evaluate the characters and delve into their motivations, fears and impact on the story, simply by challenging who is the convict and who is the badge-bearing superintendent. The theme of power, both physical and mental, its use for good or abuse, the degradation of energy over time and the abuse of privileges: all this constitutes one of the main themes of the Green Mile explained in extremely simple terms.

The film opens with a fragmentary sequence, dominated by men with rifles and pitchforks as they run through the countryside of the southern states. To some extent, the audience has no exact idea of ​​the nature of the opening scene. The short sequence cuts to the nursing home somewhere in the Georgia woods, declared by King to be a "state-of-the-art retirement complex for seniors." The elderly, weakened by age and disease, spend their days by schedule, competing in choice of TV channel and supervised by uniformed attendants. As the story progresses, the Green Mile accustoms us to not judging the book by its cover and a few minutes of on-screen characters leaving us only guesswork. It is a revealing narrative medium, that the story forms its own grotesque scale for evaluation. We see the "worst" convicted inmate: William "Wild Bill" Wharton (rockwell myself), at least two 'neutral' or even 'good' imprisoned repentant individuals: Arlen Bitterbuck and Eduard "Del" Delacroix, and finally one innocent man, later revealed to be a lightning miracle: John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan).

Darabont's brilliant narrative makes the same gradation when it comes to the guards. We see Percy Wetmore villainous, treacherous and cowardly as the 'worst' foreman, some 'good' ones:Brutus “Brutal” Howell, Dean Stanton, Harry Terwillinger y Bill Dodge, and finally the main characterPaul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks)🇧🇷 As seen above, we have 'good' characters and villains and neutral characters (includingHal and Melinda Moores)on both sides of the prison bars. In stark contrast to 'The Shawshank Redemption' Samuel Norton, an exhausted directorhal moorehe is not a 'bad' man. He oversees order and discipline at 'Cold Mountain' without using unnecessary violence against the inmates, as well as abuse when dealing with his subordinates, including Paul Edgecomb. All he wants is a healthy life for his wife or a painless ending. In the last scene of the film with a shotgun in his hands at night, Moores doesn't have the strength to shoot John Coffey: he confides in his friend Paul.

When we see the character ofMichael Clarke Duncanfor the first time, his bodybuilder-type build, the visual symbols and the cinematographic means: everything gives the impression that a giant goes to the mile. The back of the vehicle lights up once Coffey lands and the first part of his body we see is his monstrous feet. The scene emphasizes how small and even pathetic the guard yelling 'Deadman walking' next to Coffey looks.Arlen BitterbuckNot an easy man, a convicted murderer at E Block, eyes the new inmate warily. Even the tallest Brutus "Brutal" Howell, at only two meters tall, appears to be far below the newly arrived behemoth. The camera patiently takes two minutes before revealing the face of John Coffey. Contrary to the image of the last two minutes, the giants look scared and lost, covered in sweat not so much from the heat as from emotion. He used 'Sir, Chief' to address the commanding officer. Coffey does nothing to return the violence to Percy Wetmore, who harassed him and used his cane. John Coffey behaves peacefully and submissively as the guards free him from the handcuffs. What contrasts the most with his appearance and image of a ruthless killer is his question:'DO YOU LEAVE THE LIGHT ON AFTER SLEEPING?'🇧🇷 This giant does not look like a man, who sometimes gets a little scared in the dark. The climax of this scene comes when John Coffey approaches Paul Edgecomb.

BRUTAL:

Pablo? he may want to reconsider

get in the cell with this guy?

PABLO:

Why that?

BRUTAL:

He is huge.

PABLO:

It can't be bigger than you.

Increasingly, as Paul witnesses John Coffey's incredible gift and peaceful demeanor, and experiences his healing abilities firsthand, he increasingly doubts Coffey's guilt. The inmate's file provides the full scope of the alleged evidence against Coffey and the details of his arrest and trial, but not enough for Edgecomb. The protagonist decides to hitchhike to another country to find Coffey's lawyer, but discovers that the defense attorney is just as confident in the verdict as the others before him. The trial of all the people involved, the prejudice against the black man in the state of Georgia in1935, his appearance and, finally, the fact of being placed on death row: all this, one might think, leavesPablo Edgecombwith no choice but to blame Coffey for the murder ofdetterick twins🇧🇷 As the story progresses, the audience comes to understand not only his innocence in that horrible crime, but the complete incompatibility between prejudice and man. Even if we put Coffey's gift and mystical nature aside for a while, his actions and not his appearance is the argument that should be treated as a decisive role of a man.

He's... weird, I admit. But there doesn't seem to be any real violence in it. I know violent men, Mr. Hammersmith. I deal with them day after day.

Coffey's childish behavior and pure nature. not only in contrast to his impressive stature and visible physical power, he doesn't use these abilities to take advantage of others. Not surprisingly, both the father of the murdered girls and the men around him treated Coffey like a maniacal rapist and butcher once he was found with the bodies of the boys. Since the film explains that John tried to bring the girls back to life and cried at his own inability to save them, it's impossible to treat the man like a beast. He was devastated by the violence someone used against those children. It turns out that neither his height, nor the color of Coffey's skin, nor his social status have anything in common with the crime of which he is convicted. If John really was a heinous murderer, he could use his strength to escape custody. If he had Wild Bill's insanity, he could injure or even kill the 'green mile' guards, particularly Paul Edgecomb. It should come as no surprise that Paul's colleagues insisted on carrying shotguns while transporting Coffey tomelinda moros🇧🇷 Considering the potential physical strength of the prisoner, it can be a bit difficult to stop him in case of an escape attempt. They are entitled to calculate such possibilities due to their years of working alongside convicted murderers.

PABLO:

I just can't imagine God putting such a gift in the hands of a man who would kill a child.

(Video) The Green Mile: How long will Paul Edgecomb live for?

DEAN:

Well, it's a delicate idea, but the man is on death row for the crime. Also, it's huge. If he tried to escape, he would need a lot of bullets to stop him.

BRUTAL:

We would all have shotguns as well as firearms. I would insist on it.

Rather than use his physical strength to harm others, John Coffey does everything in his power to heal other creatures: he heals them and brings them back to life, rather than trying to take their life. It is worth mentioning that Juan considers the prisoner condemned Edward "Del" Delacroixwith a human attitude. The latter committed a terrible crime, but since then he has felt remorse and is deeply sorry for the pain he caused others. Delacroix shows no violence or antagonism towards the guards (except Percy in response to his violent attitude) or other inmates on the Mile and, most importantly, treats a little mouth with admiration and love. John Coffey doesn't get the chance to touch Delacroix's hand to see his past and the crimes committed, but he can see how Delacroix cares about Mister Jingles. In a scene where Paul brings John homemade bread as a thank you, Coffey shares it with Delacroix and the mouse (evidently another Biblical reference). The Frenchman asks patiently and politely instead ofWilliam "Wild Bill" Wharton🇧🇷 When John later reveals that he understands the ultimate destination of his journey (to help an old woman), it becomes clearer that he knows a lot more than he ever could in custody. During Delacroix's execution, John suffers greatly. From the point of view of the law, he does himself justice, but it is one more killing.

Paul Edgecomb fails to catch a glimpse of the impressive stature of Coffey or his friend Brutal Howell. Along with that, he is the chief officer of the guard inthe green Mileand depends heavily on your experience and dedicated co-workers. We can easily sense his authority as Brutus, Dean and Harry await Paul's reaction to the events involving the inmates and Percy Wetmore. Edgecomb does not need to rely on brute force to maintainE blockin order. Paul tries his best to maintain discipline due to his attitude towards condemned prisoners and his colleagues. He denies Percy's behavior, but Paul has no choice but to face the temporary circumstances. In King's novel we can find Paul's revelation that he had to break some fingers during his work, but it was only a minimal reaction to the situational aggressiveness of some inmates in the past “a necessary evil to maintain order. Edgecomb never uses his power to get revenge on the man, who had previously not been subdued. His reaction is always the same or even milder than what he might have against Wild Bill, for example. The young man is being taken to the isolation cell, which does not follow the rules, but Paul uses harsh methods such as beating or cutting the ration. Everyone here understands that Edgecombe is the leader of the mile, without a constant need to be reminded of that fact or held in fear. His power lies in the trust of others, the teamwork of the guards, and their respective attitudes towards the prisoners. At the same time, we see Paul vulnerable due to the infection: exhausted and exhausted from the pain. It should come as no surprise that a man who has trouble peeing in the bathroom can rule the death block.

Percy Wetmoreit is the character, or rather a villain, who acts as a moral opposition, or rather, morally bankrupt to Paul, Harry, Dean, Brutus, and Hal Moores. He didn't go the green mile to improve his family's dire finances in the midst of the Great Depression and certainly not to build a self-respecting career. As he says, the temp job in Block E is just one step away from landing a place at a local nursing home. At the same time, it is unlikely that he initially did not get a job in the clinic, compared to the Governor's uncle and a charming aunt. The latter was probably not very keen on the idea of ​​working alongside convicted murderers. The problem is that, lacking physical power, intellect, or respect, Percy worries about dominating other people. In particular, not bureaucratic control by some white-collar man, but direct physical and moral domination. One might ask, what is the justification for choosing asylum inmates or patients? The answer is obvious: they are the most vulnerable layer of the population, with little chance of being heard once they complain.

Both of themStephen Kingto meFrank DarabontEmphasize the fact that Percy looks pathetic once the situation gets off track. He can appear tall and powerful with just a cane in hand and in safe standing with no one behind him. It is not an exaggeration to say thatPercy Wetmorehe takes sadistic pleasure when he breaks Delacroix's fingers and hears his first screams, just like when he kills a little mouse. The film uses cinematographic means and narrative magic to emphasize the opposition between these two: Percy and Mister Jingles. Unlike Paul Edgecomb, Percy's power is illusory and artificial. Wetmore seems even more pathetic when he constantly reminds the others of their family connections. It is very likely that he has some privileges just because of his aunt's good heart. Percy is disrespected by the other guards, not only because of his cruel attitude towards the inmates, but also because of his arrogant attitude when it comes to his fellow guards.In fact, he does not respect other people, he hates them for what he lacks: physical strength, intellect, authority and a sense of humor.

We can safely assume that his transfer to the asylum could only result in the abuse of the patients, who are even more unprotected than a man behind bars. He wants to send a man to the electric chair to give the final order of execution. By not dipping the sponge, Percy shows his elusive mastery and power over the question of Delacroix's life and death. It is interesting to note that King's book has the referential character of a hospital nurse, who intimidates the elderly Paul Edgecomb, as well as being useless and shameless as Percy was. The Percy Wetmore character is a quintessential image of one of the green mile ideas that a human being can harm other people and creatures and do so intentionally. You might be wondering how unimportant a sound-of-mouth death can be on the prison block with convicted felons. Likewise, even such an event and Percy's behavior anger the other guards. Wetmore not only abused a condemned man's inner peace in his last days before execution. In fact, he carried out the execution of a rat, thus crossing the invisible line between guilt and murder. The moment serves as something of a red flag for Brutus, Paul, Harry, and Dean. After years of routine work on the Mile, they are finally taken out of the loop.

William "Wild Bill" Whartonhe is another villainous character, who brings neither sympathy nor pleasure to look at. In the novel, Wharton is only nineteen years old and has been sentenced to death for the well-known murders of at least three people, including a pregnant woman. At the end of the story, when we learn of his cruel abuse and murder of the Detterick twins, the actual number of his victims seems to be up for debate. He doesn't have the physical appearance of John Coffey, but Wharton is strong enough to rape and kill two girls and nearly choke a guard. His behavior expresses his total contempt for life and human dignity or for the opinion of other people. His nature is to cause trouble in society and, in his eyes, to stand out from the crowd. Also, Bill is a good actor when he has to be.Klaus and Marjorie Detterickthey did not suspect that he was a potential murderer of their daughters. He is also convincing when he pretends to be a drug addict during his transfer from the asylum to Cold Mountain Prison. Once taken to the isolation cell, Wharton feigns an epileptic fit and can even be nice when he wants something to eat or drink.

O"Wild Bill"is the second example of a Green Mile character using their strength to harm other people: raping, suffocating, grabbing someone from behind, lying, humiliating and abusing and even killing. It's important to understand that, parallel to Percy Whatmore, Wharton only understands one means of forcing himself, when the guards put him in his nightgown to spend a day in the confinement ward similar to his antidote for Percy. Wild Bill could not be dealt with or debated with the language of arguments or drawing red lines. Similar to the way Percy defends himself from potential danger by voicing his connections, Bill takes advantage of the fact that the prison guards couldn't fight him commensurately, at least with the characters in the movie, who are they describe as "good" and preserve a kind of code of honor. A respectful attitude towards inmates does not work with William Wharton. It is doubly symbolic that it is Percy Whetmor who kills Wharton. A traitorous antagonist ended the life of another.

BEING IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD

Insofar as John Coffey presents himself in a semi-mystical vein, as a divine human being, it's important to take a closer look at his relationship with the world around him. Both the book and the movie give us a bit of Coffey's history before the Detterick girls' deaths, while King's novel hints that he once had parents. We can also analyze his own words about his exhaustion from living in the world of hate and violence to assume that he lived at least some time before being condemned. To shake the good mood of the public, imagine this giant, who walks through the field of flowers and grass until he finds the bloody bodies of two girls. As I said above, the first two minutes of this character on screen give us no understanding ofCoffey's vulnerable nature as a man, which can't harm even a mouse and instead heals others by touching it. The men in the state of Georgia, who sentenced John to death in 1935 (1932 in the novel), considered him just a giant, uneducated black man in cotton overalls who was found weeping over the bodies of two white girls. It is essential to state that despite the world's attitude towards John Coffey, his attitude of contempt and contempt, he has retained a small amount of admiration for the same world, which is a burden to John anyway.

COFFEE SHOP:

I love you for that. they do notdo not have harmful thoughts. they arejust happy to be little happyfireflies…

(Video) The Green Mile (1999) - John Coffey Healing Paul Edgecomb

Beneath Coffey's admiration for the world itself, not human civilization, are the scenes in which he is transported to the Moores' country house. For the first time throughout the film, we see John outside the prison walls in relative situational freedom. It is disconcerting that a man who can barely pronounce his own name can identify himselfCassiopeiaInside a starry sky, the Lady in the chair. Coffey's childish delight is contrasted with Edgecomb's guarded wariness. Paul is more likely to see the stripes instead of the stars. In the woods, John collects a handful of ground cover from the forest floor, breathes in the scent of nature, and shares it with Paul and Brutus. Another notable sequel to John's joy is watching the film 'Top Hat' (1935), his first and last film at the dawn of talkies. Similar to how movies were once considered the miracle, John Coffey is portrayed in the same way.

It is not an exaggeration to say thatJuan Coffeybehaves like a child or is mildly mentally retarded: This is said repeatedly by other people throughout the story of the film and King's novel. Be that as it may, John Coffey has more rights to be considered a human being than most of his contemporaries, even in opposition to his evident status as a convicted prisoner. In those brief moments of temporary freedom outside of his cell, John does what most of humanity has forgotten. In love with nature, he loves the little things in life, he values ​​the kindness of people, not focusing mainly on bad habits. Despite all the prejudices and cruel attitude of the human world towards himself, Coffey is happy to shake hands with a good man, even if he earns money by sending other people to the electric chair. the picture ofJohn Coffey in 'Green Mile'it is an example of pure altruism, almost mythologically biblical. Unlike most people who used to simply take from others and the world around him, John shares his gift with other creatures, tends to help and appreciates what he has. Yes, he is a big boy, who smells the leaves on the ground and fears the darkness of the night, but sometimes we lack that kind of inner child.

The theme of gratitude is one of the red threads throughout the film: both in practical execution and in abstract philosophical means. Paul's gratitude to John for curing his urological disease is the turning point in the relationship between the two characters and Edgecomb's doubts about Coffey's ability to commit a crime. This healing as an act of altruism brings Paul back from his routine state of many years of dealing with death, from his excessive involvement with the system and consciousness. another example ofgratitudecan be found in the story of Hal and Melinda Moores and their fight against the deadly disease. The director tries to appreciate the 'good days' among the many 'bad' ones, and revels in Paul's friendship and visits. Even Coffey's defense attorney thanks God for watching over his child when he tells Paul the chilling story of the dog. In opposition to all this, we can remember the two antagonists: Wild Bill and Percy: both take advantage of other people and only serve to ruin.

When it comes to callsgray moral' in the story, he introduces himself, among other things, with the presentation of the other two prisoners in the mile. Not surprisingly, just before they were executed, bothArlen Bitterbuck and Eduard Delacroix regret their actions, they would like to travel to the past and change everything so as not to kill and not die. Both men spend their last hours before being killed with images now unreachable. For Bitterbuck, memories of his and a young wife's youth are just a glimpse of the past, never to be reproduced again. All that remains is the need to walk the last mile with dignity. Delacroix tries to smooth over the last few hours of him engulfed in fantasies aboutMr Jingles and Mouseville🇧🇷 The movements of the green mile, unlike the novel, leave us no details of the ferocious crimes these two committed and instead elicit a kind of empathy for the two criminals. The story gives more reason to sympathize with the two convicted murderers than with law enforcement officers like Percy Wetmore, turning basic principles of right and wrong upside down. John Coffey imagines the Detterick twins alive, laughing and playing with Mr. Jingles on John's knee.

COFFEE SHOP:

I dreamed that those two blonde girls were there. They also make us laugh. I put my arms around them and sat them on my knees and there was no blood coming out of their hair and they were fine. We all saw Mr. Roll of jingles that reel and how we laughed. 'Bus friendly', we were.

SACRIFICE: THE ESSENCE OF THE HUMAN BEING

The willingness and willingness to make sacrifices for the good of oneself and even life for the good of other people.is another thread running through the entire history of the green mile. John Coffey spends his entire life in this kind of victimhood and willingness to die, although we don't have the answer as to how long he lived. Whether he lived for thirty years with his gift or emerged into this world minutes before the murder of the Detterick twins: he is still suffering from his inability to bring the girls back to life. Long before he was convicted of someone else's crime and in parallel with the racial prejudice against John, he lived with this painful agony inside of him. He himself has to go through the pain of the whole world, especially the cruelty that people do to each other every day. To the same extent that he enjoys the smell of the forest and the stars in the sky, João is horrified by the murders, rapes and wars that surround him. The sadistic touch as Wild Bill makes John suffer even more, as well as his presence in a building withedward delacroixduring the terrible execution. In the novel, Coffeys says that he still feels for all the people who were executed in that electric chair. It's hard to imagine a darker place for such a man than a death row prison.

In relation to all of the above, the true tragedy of Juan is not so much that he has the gift of treasuring the pain of the world and the nature of the human being. His own drama lies in the fact that many times he feels incapable of helping those people who deserve it and whose suffering he goes through alone. It is essential to remember the scene in which a group of armed men find Coffey in the field next to the bodies of two murdered girls. He is screaming and crying not because he committed that crime, but because he suffers so much from the fact that he can't bring them back to life or heal the damage on his little bodies. It's highly likely that Coffey never had the power to bring two human beings back to life the way he did a mouse moments after Mr. Jingles' death or Melinda Moores' tumor healing. It is not surprising that the image of John Coffey is often considered a kind ofreference to the figure of Jesus Christ, trying to find parallels even in the initials JC. Another mythical messiah was supposedly killed for his mission and altruism. In any case, the John Coffey story has much more practical means of discussion.

It is critical to underline that John Coffey was not shunned by society for his incredible gift, which was actually revealed only to a few prison guards, the warden, and his wife. He was rejected by his contemporaries due to more practical routine considerations. Going back to his first film appearance and the attitude of others in the state of Georgia in 1935, John was seen by them only as a six-foot-tall black man, an uneducated convicted murderer of thecold mountain prison, capable of committing a crime. What really happens is that, being a kind and good-hearted person, John saw something good in his life. He had been a stranger to him all his life before he found a friendship of people, who would have had him tearfully put in the electric chair.With all his powers, John Coffey never found his own place in this giant world.plus a cell in Block E for convicted murderers, a dark place that can be scary with the lights off. Coffey is doomed to find his end in a place with so much pain, injustice, and a sense of his own inability to help. He managed to bring a mouse back to life, but knows that his power is not enough to try to bring Delacroix back. Neither his physical power nor his great gift saved John Coffey from trial and cruelty.

Coffey's true gift does not lie in his mystical ability to take people's illnesses and potentially bring them to life. The true blessing of him is the nature of a man who wants to selflessly help other people without return, give himself at the expense of his own suffering, sacrifice himself.That essence of being human is his greatest gift and his agony as Coffey realizes that he couldn't deal with the whole world, couldn't help people who reject kindness and don't want to be served. Coffey is a real human being, which is why it is so painful for him to live in a world where people are used to selfishness and the habit of hurting each other. Despite the conventional references to religion when talking aboutJohn Coffey character analysis, he is neither a just man nor a messiah, who would guide others through the centuries. Coffey's story would be known around the world and he would live on in the memories of some prison guards, an old woman and her husband. Six decades later, an elderly Paul Edgecomb shares this story with an eighty-year-old lady, who would also leave this world a few months later.

Returning to the subject of Coffey's execution, it is not enough to realize that the manbeing killed for a crime you didn't commit🇧🇷 The fact is that John is ready to be voluntarily executed, surrounded by men, his friends, who know his innocence and admire him. It should come as no surprise that both King's novel and Darabont's film address the still-relevant (in 1932, 1935, 1996, 1999, or 2022) themes of justice, fairness in the courts, the presumption of innocence, the death penalty, and wrongful convictions. . . John Coffey appears gigantic and powerful, but in reality he is a broken man, long since unburdened by the cruelty of the world. He is scared and exhausted and death feels like a release from pain. While the movie Green Mile leaves us with a hint or hint that John might have at least some glimpses of the future, it is likely that he has always known the end of his life and been willing to face it on the terms of the.Death comes as a mercy for Coffeysince he can no longer live in such a cruel world. In contrast to another possible reference to dying for the sins of others, Coffey's death is not predetermined. It was the end, he decided to make a decision. Getting back to the subject of his powers, John Coffey made no effort to shake off the upcoming execution in the chair. As if that wasn't enough, when Paul asks John's permission to stage a prison break, Coffey politely declines that option. He wants to leave this life and John definitely doesn't want trouble for Edgecombe.

the green Mileis known for several chilling emotional scenes, but John Coffey's execution sequence stands out. At this point in the story, not only circumstantial factors point to John's innocence, as well as his actions and words, but also a glimpse of the past now available to Paul Edgecomb. In the days of his executions, bothArlen Bitterbuck y Eduard Delacroixthey looked like vulnerable, broken men, caught up in the purpose before them. When it comes to John, he too is an innocent man who doesn't need to feel remorse. In addition to the story empathizing with the convicted murderers (except Wild Bill), the viewer walks through his three-hour journey with John Coffey. Like Paul Edgecombe, he gives us a small part of this gift, enough to see the past and the circumstances of the death of the Detterick twins. The knowledge of the fact that Coffey freely faces execution for him is intensified by the humorous image of a giant boy, who wants to help other people with no return.

COFFEE SHOP:

He kills them with his love. They love each other. Do you see how she is? That's how it is every day. It's like that all over the world...

The possible use of his powers to get out of custody would definitely mean intentional harm to others, particularly the E Block guards and Paul personally. He would say once more: João rejects the possibility of being released not only because he wants to see death and peace, but because he in no way wants to endanger the career oftom hanks character🇧🇷 The execution scene is emotionally intensified by Coffey's request not to cover his face because he is afraid of the dark. Despite his preparation for the ending, John is afraid of dying in the electric chair, and his words: 'I'm in heaven' from the movie just seen only intensify the emotional apotheosis of the whole scene. Most of all, John feels all the hate in this room, first of all the withering glare from Detterick's wife. In the last moments of his life, John doesn't blame the other: he apologizes for who he is. He is truly a stranger in this world: surely few people in the whole world are ready to face death for the crimes of others and not create trouble for their friends. John gives Paul an exhausted smile, but at the end of his life. It is an interesting idea to consider this moment as a clue that John knows that he has passed part of his gift to his friend Paul Edgecombe, a good person. John is more likely to give Paul a smile as thanks for his friendship and give the latter a reprieve of sorts midway through the execution.

COFFEE SHOP:

Lots of people here hate it.Pretty. I can feel that. Likesbees sting me That hurts.

BRUTAL:

Feel how we feel then. We do notI hate you, can you feel it?

The man, who had been taken to prison by the convicted murderers a few weeks earlier, whose file is full of lurid details of the Detterick case, finally wins the support, friendship, and respect of some of the men around him. In that short time as a prisoner at the Cold Mountain facility, John Coffey cures Paul Edgecombe's infection, brings Mister Jingles mouse back to life, and finally savesmelinda moros🇧🇷 The jailer's wife didn't just thank the giant man for his action without fully understanding what had just happened. She bestowed John with a woman's gentle touch: probably the first in her life, and gave him her talisman for good luck (which would not protect John from the electric chair, as well as Mr. Moores from the earlier tumor). ). Brutus asks John to try to focus on how they (the guards) feel about him in this cruel world, even taking into account the fact that they would have to execute Coffey a few minutes later.Now it is Paul Edgecomb who offers his hand to his friend John.thus referring to their first meeting in the prison cell. The film uses the repetitive visual symbol to emphasize the journey of friendship and integrity that these two took together. Back then, Paul shook Coffey's hand so as not to make a prisoner nervous and now it's an act of trust and respect. John Coffey's sacrifice for this world is not completely without answer. He leaves this life with gratitude, respect and admiration for the people he has helped. In fact, he is released from prison through death, and is released from life not in struggle, but in peace.

WALKING THE GREEN MILE: PAUL EDGECOMB

Unlike other correctional officers at Cold Mountain and elsewhere, jailers at Mile are paid a salary not only to maintain discipline in cells, but primarily to send people to the electric chair as a means of social justice. for convicted murderers.Death is your duty and commitment.As the punishment of the condemned serves as a means to regulate social relations, the constituent executioners of prisons are not considered murderers and receive a salary for killing those they consider unworthy of life for their crimes. Outside of Percy Wetmore, the hardened officers of the mile get no satisfaction from their control and authority over the people behind bars and definitely don't need to be present at Curiosity's execution. At the same time, these executions have become part of the job, a disturbing but routine duty. In the soap opera,Paul Edgecomb recalls sending 78 people to their deaths, with John Coffey being the last.

While all of the corrections officers except Percy are portrayed as "good" people, the film's theme of law-abiding electors is a classic example of "grey morality". Paul and his colleagues are spared the burden of judging others, deciding whether he or they will live or die. Likewise, the judge and the twelve jurors are only a reflection of society. For Paul, Brutus, Harry and Dean, the incoming prisoners are guilty for the reasons the respected Georgia state court found them to be. Each of them can look into the file of one criminal or another, but they used to find only gruesome details of the crimes committed. The word "executioners" fits the question well, sincethe guards in Milla only 'execute' the penalty, which was agreed months and miles away from 'Cold Mountain'. The guards of the Mile cultivate a kind of unwritten procedure about the last days of the prisoner in this world, and try to approximate those rules and their own work habits. Edgecomb in the book allows the reader to see that this type of work was never desirable to him, and he suffered from the very act of sending people to their deaths. He experienced insomnia, headaches and regrets, but never thought of leaving his job before he met John Coffey.

It is peculiar to reveal or invent a metaphor that deals with Paul's urological infection, thus referring to the “burning” doubts about his work, which he repressed for years. There is no doubt that the Green Mile guards could only carry out their duty of sending people to their deaths with strict confidence in the guilt of the convicted murderers, which used to give the policemen a kind of self-distancing. We might even go a step further by assuming that while the inmates expressed remorse for their crimes, the mile cops tended to stick to the usual order and not waste time on philosophy. As a way of suppressing the feeling of abnormality in his work,Paul, Brutus, Dean and Harry have adopted a kind of code of honorfor his own behavior towards condemned prisoners. Contrary to Percy Whetmore's sadistic nature, the E Block correctional officers do their best to create as much of a glimmer of comfort for the convicts as possible.

Paul and his subordinates never use physical force without strict situational necessity or mental pressure on the prisoners and try not to cause unnecessary nervousness or anxiety. The guards perform their duties not only to maintain discipline in the Block, but also to alleviate the death of the condemned a bit. A few days before the execution, they always arrange a rehearsal without the prisoner's knowledge. Later, the guards shave a convict's head. He usually has the option of having a nice meal and even expressing some last wish that can be fulfilled. When appropriate, a priest visits the condemned man and, in the case of John Coffey, it is Paul Edgecombe himself who prays. Paul spends his time listening sympathetically to Bitterbuck and Delacroix: he stresses them into leaving this life in relative peace, which they don't deserve. It is important to point out that, without any doubt of the guilt of these two,Paul gives sympathy to men and their remorse, but consider these moments as part of the process and their duties. If the convict loses his temper, it is Paul Edgecombe who tries to convince him to behave with dignity, because that is the only thing the public would remember.

BRUTAL:

We don't scare them any more than necessary, Percy. They are under enough stress already.

PABLO:

Men under stress can explode. Injure. Hurt others. That's why our job is to talk, notScreaming. You'll do better if you think of this place as an intensive care room in a hospital.

We can assume that, prior to John Coffey's arrival on the Green Mile, the prison officer, and Paul and Brutus in particular, could not seem to change their attitude. Similar to 'Shawshank Redemption', waking up to the fact that a person can be executed for a crime they didn't commit can shatter even a fossilized mind. As long as the convicted murderer is found unquestionably guilty, the value of his life in society is close to zero. At the same time, deliberately sending not just a “good” person, but an innocent person for execution seems too much even for the guards, who have carried out dozens of executions. In wider circles, during the fall of 1935,Paul Edgecombe takes a personal journey from the routine performance of his duties and passive engagement with the system to the rejection of such justice and the irreducibility of its cruelty.After John Coffey, Paul didn't execute a single person besides Brutus, Dean, and Harry.

Clearly, for the first time in years, the thought of killing other human beings, even convicted murderers, chills his blood. It is very likely that he questions the earlier belief that the seventy-seven people he executed were guilty. The hardest part of such an awakening is your understanding of the fact that society accepts those rare occasions as an exception to the rule, which is not often talked about. The cruel and gruesome execution of Eduard Delacroix for Percy's hateful conduct actually has no real consequences for the prison system and its enforcers. In either case, the execution is successful, as Delacroix is ​​dead. The fact was so painful that the witnesses of that execution, those who vomited on the ground, preferred to distance themselves, like society in general, when it comes to the issue of the condemned and, in particular, the murderers.

The film does not end with the execution of John Coffey, as may seem logical. The viewer has to face even more doubts and reflections when watching the scenes with the elderly Paul Edgecombe, when he reveals his age to an old woman and shows her Mister Jingles, a mouse still alive at the end of the 90s. The image of the elderly protagonist it carries a portion of visual references and symbolism. In obvious parallels to his previous work, he is now confined to a state institution, from which he is not to leave without permission.Paul lives, eats, sleeps, and watches TV on time with dozens of other seniors.The short walk is the most essential part of your day. The nursing home has its staff, who maintain discipline and order, though the movie lacks a villainous character of an evil attendant, an obvious reference to Percy Whetmore. In fact, the officials of this institution take for granted the daily death here and their very proximity to the old convicts whom they escort to their own green miles to leave this world. It's even more remarkable that director Frank Darabont uses the same green color for the E Block floor, a clue to the fact that the old people's home is another mile away.

PABLO:

They used to call death row the Last Mile, but we called ours the Green Mile because the floor was the color of a faded lime. Then we had the electric chair. Old Sparky, we called him.

The theme of death is omnipresent in both King's novel and Darabont's adaptation, and in both institutions: E Block and the nursing home are the obvious metaphor for the 'green mile': the last journey, inevitable for all of us. One man, like John Coffey, is "lucky" to take his last steps surrounded by friends, and another, like Paul Edgecombe, goes off alone. It's likely that once he finally dies, some of his descendants will pay him the last tribute and that's it. With obvious parallels with condemned prisoners, who used to reminisce about the best moments of his life before he died, Paul brings up the memories of his wife and friends. The old film elicits sweet nostalgia and pain as one recalls the execution of John Coffey once again. In Paul's view, his unnaturally long life is the negative payoff, a sort of curse for failing to keep a miracle safe and for knowingly sending an innocent man to the electric chair. Edgecombe has outlived those he has loved and respected for decades and has no idea how many years he would have to walk this planet, especially in reference to the long life of Mister Jingles' mouse. It is essential to understand that Paul lives in the nursing home and is a constant witness to the passage of people he knows and even to whom he opened his mind and his heart like Elaine.

While Paul Edgecombe himself sees his long life as revenge, it's actually more like a blessing.🇧🇷 Throughout history, John Coffey has paid "bad" people according to their merits - Percey Whetmore and Wild Bill were an open book for John after one touch. Along with this, Coffey used to help 'good' people and animals, those who deserved this help. Mister Jingles would never survive Percy's attack without John Coffey's blessing touch, as would Melinda Moores, who was about to die from a tumor. John cured Paul Edgecombe of the infection because he knew the warden is a "good" person, even considering his job of executing death. In the midst of his first meeting in the cell, John suggests his hand to Paul and after the handshake, presumably his usual way of seeing people, Coffey nods peacefully. John changes the lives of the other prison guards when they leave E Block after his execution. Coffeys considers Paul to be a good person whose long life would definitely change other people's lives forever, albeit without a hint of recovery. Paul is unable to see the past of the other people he touches, but he lives long enough to give the utmost consideration to friendship, love and the value of each person's life. In contrast to the cruelty of the world, which John suffered all his life, he gave a part of his gift to one person, who would live more consciously than most. It is very likely that those young criminals that Brutus and Paul worked with after the mile lived as respectful men and passed on the gift of good works to others. Indeed,Paul is afflicted by his gift in a similar way to John Coffey and this is the blind side and not a curse.

PABLO:

On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me

Why did I kill one of your true miracles, what will I say? Was that my job? My job? Juan, tell me what you want me to do. Do you want me to get you out of here? Let you escape? Do you see how far you can go?

(Video) Green mile, truth about the murder

Paul's green mile is not waiting for his own end, but in the painful anticipation of the death of others around him and in preserving the memory of good people and innocent victims. Just as John Coffey was anxious that he did not have the power to resurrect the Detterick girls, Paul would live to regret his failure to save John Coffey from death. He not only sent an innocent man to the electric chair, but a man who healed him and gave Paul a kind of immortality, health and long life, a man who became his friend and a person to look up to. . Summing up all of the above,Paul's gift is not only his long life and the opportunity to help others, but also a conscience.The green mile is not just the last journey before death, but the ability to evaluate this path and yourself on it. We are the ones who could totally change our lives, but it is essential to help other people and make the world a better place.

I think of all the people I loved, far away now. I think of my beautiful Jan and how I lost her so many years ago. I think of all of us walking our own Green Mile, each in their own time. We owe each one a death, there are no exceptions, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long...