The Green Mile (1999) – IMDb: 8.6 – Release Date: December 10, 1999 – Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy – Director: Frank Darabont

Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David MorseWhen someone asked me which movie made everyone cry after watching it. Surely the answer could only be The Green Mile. Why? Spend 3 hours watching it and you will see that my comment is still not enough to describe the most intense emotions the movie brings. From joy, sadness, anger to torment, suffering, all are wrapped up in a place where the distance between heaven and hell becomes vague and difficult to describe. And Green Mile is exactly such a place.

Although it carries the two words Green Mile, different from the endless green grasslands or vast forests, the green mile of the movie is extremely special because this is originally a corridor, the last path for death row inmates before they are tried in the electric chair. In other prisons, this corridor is often called The Last Road, but in the prison of warden Paul Edgecomb, that path is called by a strange name just like the miracles here.

Contents Adapted from the novel of the same name written by Stephen King, The Green Mile revolves around the life of Warden Paul Edgecomb from the moment he meets a death row inmate named John Coffey who has the ability to save all living things. Two people who do not know each other suddenly realize that fate has brought them together to become friends to change the hope in the dark prison.

Like his miracle, John is different from the rest, not smart or talkative, always shy and appears with wet eyes, Paul is also different from normal warden, Paul is calm, knows how to listen and is very fair, he realizes that his job is not to shout and beat but to listen and share with prisoners.

Therefore, Block E where Paul works is quite friendly, gentle, even the solitary confinement room used to lock up death row inmates is used as a storage room, only occasionally there are a few stubborn cases locked up. The behavior of prison warden Paul Edgecomb evokes a lesson in human management that violent beatings cannot be as effective as skillful and kind words.

Is the friendship between the warden and the death row inmate real?
Returning to the friendship of these two characters, at first it may seem absurd because they belong to two different classes, different positions, but if we put them in the context of a prison full of remorse hidden behind each cell, we will eventually realize that beautiful friendship, no matter where it is, will still exist because simply being willing to give anything without expecting anything in return is enough to make it come true. But between Paul and John, who gave the most? It must be John because he suffered too much pain from being forced to rape and murder two girls to enduring the contempt of white people trampling on him.

And yet John still cured Paul and the warden’s acquaintance, driving the hateful Percy insane and ending his own life along with the evil prisoner Bill. John did everything with his ability and a pure heart, and in the end, he was able to clear his name without needing anyone, leaving a lingering feeling of sympathy in Paul that tormented the warden until later. Surely many people will agree with me that the miracle Paul received was not as miraculous as he thought, it was almost a punishment that forever pinned down, causing Paul to gnaw on loneliness and pain as he watched many other loved ones die right before his eyes because he had lost the miracle that God had given to the world.

Besides that magical friendship between people, Green Mile also contains many much simpler friendships such as the mouse Mr. Jingles and the little prisoner Del who was convicted of murder but in his last days returned to his conscience. This is the clearest proof that no matter who you are, deep down in your heart, goodness still exists. Ever since meeting the little mouse and many prison guards like Paul, Del no longer feels lonely and right before walking through the Green corridor, he makes a wish that makes us feel even more heartbroken every time we hear it: “I wish I had met everyone sooner”.

The miracle is not far away…
Del makes a wish that even John with his magical miracle always wishes for. So, even though they are death row inmates, in Green Mile they are still human, still creatures with small wishes that the dark world out there does not have. The image of Mr. Jingles is small like a mirror reflecting the prison, helping the prisoners here live truly with their hearts.

Through the little mouse, we no longer see the figure of the murderer but only the pitiful Del spending his last day next to the animal he tamed or through it, the image of Percy also appears so despicable and lowly, daring to kill those weaker than him. If we consider John Coffey as an angel, Percy is the opposite, he is the devil in the guise of nobility and arrogance. But John and Paul are still there and the magic will always shine brightly, so how can people like Percy bring evil to the Green Mile. The greenway in Cold Mountain is beautiful in its own way and as Paul said