"The Green Mile" Movie Review

"One of the best movies I have ever watched"

While we typically think of an epic as a long poem or a lengthy literary classic, it can also be used to describe movies. While the definition of an epic is disputed, I agree with the belief that an epic is any movie over three hours long. 

Some of the greatest movies fit this criterion like “The Godfather,” “Gone with the Wind," "Oppenheimer” and our movie for the week “The Green Mile.” 

The movie’s runtime sits just over the three-hour mark and explores many different aspects like race, religion and humane treatment of prisoners. It also delves into if there are truly good and bad people. 

The two main characters of it are John Coffey and Paul Edgecomb. It starts with Edgecomb in a retirement home telling the story of his last execution as a prison guard. 

Edgecomb worked the death row section of the prison, which in most prisons is called the last mile, but in his it was the green mile because of the green colored flooring the prison had.  

In his last year as a prison guard, Edgecomb had a painful urinary tract infection but would not go to the doctor because he did not want to miss work. Instead, he oversees the entrance of a new prisoner to death row, Coffey. 

` Coffey is a simple man. He is respectful to all the guards and keeps to himself in the beginning of the movie. However, the crime he was convicted of is truly heinous. 

Coffey was accused of assaulting and killing two little girls. He was found holding both of their bodies; while crying he was too late to help them. Edgecomb does not believe that someone as peaceful as Coffey could commit such a violent crime. 

Another instance later in the movie has Edgecomb questioning the crime. Coffey calls Edgecomb over to his cell and grabs him from behind the bars. He pulls Edgecomb close to him and heals the tract infection that had been plaguing him. 

If someone were truly a bad person, Edgecomb does not believe God would give them healing abilities like this. There are other instances in the movie that show these healing abilities like when Coffey helps save an almost dead mouse named Mr. Jingles or helps cure the warden’s wife of her brain cancer. 

Coffey does not only possess these healing abilities but also has visions about the future. The guards had to sneak Coffey out of the prison to help the warden’s wife, but they did not tell Coffey who they were going to help.  

On the way to the house, Coffey just knew they were going to help a woman who was very sick and in need. These powers are not just limited to him, but he can share them with others. 

Coffey saw a vision about another inmate named Wild Bill about exactly what he had done in his life. Wild Bill was the one who had sexually assaulted and killed the two girl Coffey had tried to help when he was arrested. 

He had gained their trust and exploited their love for each other to harm them. He got away with it too as he was arrested for a completely different crime. Coffey sees all of this in a vision and shares it with Edgecomb to show him how bad of a man Bill really is. 

It is not just the prisoners who are bad people but some of the guards too. Coffey can see that guard Percy is a terrible person who likes harming others as well.  

Percy has family in the governor's office and thinks that makes him immune to the consequences of his actions. He hurts prisoners for no reason, tries to kill Mr. Jingles because it makes one of the prisoners happy and mentally tortures the prisoners. 

These are not even his worst actions. At one point, Percy, when setting up the electric chair for a prisoner, does not put a sponge on the prisoner’s head just because the prisoner had made a joke about him. The sponge is there to take the electricity to the brain and make the execution go faster. 

Without it, the prisoner suffers and dies an excruciating death. Coffey can feel the pain the dying prisoner feels and can see how Percy tortured him. 

Coffey grabs Percy and takes all the evilness out of him. Percy then walks over, shoots Wild Bill and collapses on the green mile. He can no longer think and is admitted to a mental institution, while Wild Bill is now dead. 

Religion plays a big factor in this movie, even before we see the supernatural powers of Coffey. Men on death row are praying and hoping for forgiveness so they can go to heaven, while the victim’s families say at the execution that they go to hell and burn. 

Coffey shows there is some supernatural being out there, otherwise he would not have his powers. Some cosmic force had to bestow upon him the power to help others way he can. 

The humane treatment of prisoners is another big topic of this movie. Edgecomb and most of the other guards believe these men on death row have and will suffer enough when they die. They choose to treat them with respect and kindness. 

Percy thinks they are in prison to suffer more and at his own hands. This leads to several heated arguments between the guards and Percy about how he treats others. 

This is a fantastic movie with many twists and turns, most of which I have not spoiled. It is no surprise this movie was nominated for four Oscars, but it is disappointing it did not win any. 

The actors’ performances are amazing with the viewer feeling they really are hearing this story. The three-hour runtime flies by, and it feels much shorter than it is. 

When it comes to acting, the plot, writing, delivery and flow of the movie, it is all fantastic.

This is one of the best movies I have ever watched, and I highly recommend everyone to watch it at least once.