An Award Winning Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2009)

Stephen King's The Green Mile (1999) is a story about death row in a prison in 1935 and the lives of the guards who work there. John Coffey is a black man who is accused of the rape and murder of a child, but he is a miracle worker because he holds the power of faith healing. The cast includes Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb, Bonnie Hunt as Jan Edgecomb, David Morse as Brutus Howell, and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.
The theme of this film is about the death penalty surrounded by compassion and innocence of a man who is guilty by association. John Coffey has a gift of healing others through his touch, some my say impossible, but an act of God. Coffey is on death row awaiting electrocution for a crime that he did not commit. This is revealed to Paul Edgecomb, a prison guard, through Coffey's mind while Coffey is touching him in an attempt to heal him. When Coffey uses his power to heal someone it leaves him exhausted, he goes through the pain that the ill is feeling. Throughout the film, he heals a mouse that one of the prison inmates has deemed his pet, the warden's wife, and Paul Edgecomb himself. Once the guards understand Coffey's innocence they do not want to see him be put to death, however, Coffey does. He does not want to bear the pain and thoughts that his special power brings him. He can't take the hurt anymore. He has used all of his compassion and power to save others but wants to end his life so that he does not have to live with the pain anymore.
The use of lighting and angles in this film is important to set the mood of the prison. It is a dark setting to set a dreary and sad atmosphere in most of the scenes. The angles of the camera are low and shoot up at John Coffey making his character look very large. He is a giant compared to the prison guards. This angle makes him look very tall therefore making the guards look much shorter than he.
This is a brilliant film that puts the viewer on an emotional roller coaster ride of joy, tears and laughter. It allows you to travel back to that time era and experience the sadness in a place such as the green mile, an inmate's last walk before execution, but at the same time a feeling of joy and miracle.