The Green Mile is a drama film directed by Frank Darabont in 1999. It is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Michael Clarke Duncan, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot

The film tells a story about “The Green Mile”, a death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the summer of 1935. The death row is called “Green Mile” because the inmates waiting for their execution are said to be walking on “the last mile”. The corrections officer in charge of “the Green Mile” is named Paul Edgecomb. Edgecomb suffers from urinary tract infection, which causes him great pain.

One day, a prisoner named John Coffey arrives to the Mile. He has been convicted of killing and raping two young girls. Coffey is revealed to be shy, soft-spoken and emotional. He heals Edgecomps urinary tract infection with extraordinary powers and brings a mouse back from death. Later he heals the Wardens fatally wife. When he is asked to explain his powers, John only responses that he “took it back”.

Coffey puts the sickness that he took from the Wardens wife, and puts it into Percy Wetmore, a sadistic and unpopular guard. Percy shoots violent prisoner named ”Wild Bill” Wharton who is actually guilty of crimes that Coffey has been convicted. Percy falls into a state of permanent catatonia.

In the aftermath of these events, John Coffey shows to Paul Edgecomb what really happened to those girls. Paul asks Coffey if he should let him go, but Coffey answers that he is so tired of pain and is ready to rest. The next day, John Coffey is executed.

Characters

• Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is corrections officer in charge of death row. He is shown to be kind but stern man. He has wife and adult son. Edgecomb is the main protagonist in the movie.
• John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is an inmate who is sentenced to death. He has mystic powers to heal people just by “taking it back”. He is the secondary protagonist in the film after Paul Edgecomb.
• Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison) is a guard that everyone hates. The only thing why he is kept in duty is that he is nephew of the governor’s wife.
• ”Wild Bill” Wharton (Sam Rockwell) is the most violent and rowdiest inmate in the mile. He tries to piss the guards off any way he can.