Date:______
Block:______
Mr. Murray
Christian Leadership
Daily Lesson Plan
Music/Prayer: Student Prayer
Reflections & Intentions
Agenda: The Green Mile
Death row is not where one would expect to find a life-affirming message. But this is not a usual film. With much of the same depth and strength of his earlier “Shawshank Redemption,” author Stephen King gives us a glimpse into the struggle of good and evil in the lives of prisoners on death row.
Though this is not a film for children or sensitive viewers due to graphic language and violent images, the power of love and life is clearly accentuated in the story.
Though it is also not specifically religious, the film presents a Biblical worldview. The warden and leading characters are all church-attending Christians and the Christian care and respect for prisoners is clearly shown as they attempt to not only guard them from escape, but also to guard their human dignity.
Presented as the flashback of an elderly man in a retirement home, the primary story occurs in a southern penitentiary in 1935.
Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks in 1935; Dabbs Greer in 1999) is the officer in charge of section E, the death row of the prison. They call their cell block “The Green Mile,” because the floor of the prison is painted green on this last mile a prisoner walks before reaching the electric chair.
Edgecomb is joined by Brutus “Brutal” Howell, a large man who shares Edgecomb’s underlying respect for the human beings who are assigned to their care, and two other humane guards. Together, they create a loving community in this most unlikely of places.
This is the first strength of the film. In a world where evil is done and justice is required, it is difficult to preserve the dignity of even a condemned prisoner. Yet, time after time, in scene after scene, these men model how truly humane people should behave themselves, both in their gentle respect and in their justice.
This loving dignity is highlighted by the introduction of its antithesis in Percy Wetmore, the nephew of the Governor’s wife. A weak and evil young man who has used his connections to get assigned to the Green Mile, it becomes obvious that he is there to see someone die.
However, it is not only their physical death in which he wants to participate; he also wants to kill their spirit. Using his uniform as a cover, Percy is capable of a spiritual evil far more heinous because of its hypocrisy.
Into the Green Mile is introduced a prisoner who is a giant of a man, both physically and spiritually. An African-American named John Coffey (Michael Duncan), he has been unjustly convicted of the brutal rape and murder of two young girls.
At first it is thought that Coffey is retarded, but it becomes increasingly clear that instead he lives almost entirely on a spiritual level. With a power that is miraculous, Coffey introduces into their lives a goodness greater than the evil Percy represents.
Also introduced onto the Mile is a capricious evil in the person of William “Wild Bill” Wharton. With a blatant disregard for others that makes him capable of doing evil with a smile on his face, Wharton is a mocker of the good.
What follows in the interaction of these good guards, this miraculous spiritual presence and the mocking and hypocritical evil is a classic study of the spiritual battle within which we live our lives.
Evil, in its many forms, is not always obvious. It can reside in those outside our prisons as well as those within. The truth that the evil of this world often attacks the most miraculous and spiritually powerful beings who come to us, is a central message of Christian faith and experience.
Along the Green Mile Coffey enters everyone’s life as a conquest of evil and a triumph of humble love. John Coffey may not be Jesus, but carries within him more than just the same initials. Although condemned to die for a sin he did not commit, he offers life to everyone around him, including his captors and the condemned prisoners at his side.
Since the suspense of the film requires that we not reveal how this is shown or what happens in this conflict of good and evil, it only remains to be said that “The Green Mile” is a classic portrayal which can enrich the life of anyone who considers its deeper meanings and looks for the Life portrayed.
Visual Archetypes
ABOUT THOSE FLIES:
The Bible dictionary says that:
BEELZEBUB (Gr. form Beel'zebul), is the name given to Satan, and found only in the New Testament (Matthew 10:25; Matthew 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22). It is probably the same as Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, meaning "the lord of flies."
FLIES are associated with Satan (evil) and in the Moses story, flies are used to execute God's judgment in one of the plagues (Exodus 8:21-31). In Psalm 78:45 we read, "He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them."
In Green Mile, flies are used to symbolize both evil and the judgment of God. This idea of using flies to symbolize evil is very effective. A first in motion picture history. These flies are simply a visual way to represent evil and God's judgment. They have the appearance of little demons.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF EVIL WITH SICKNESS.
In order to heal disease, JC draws out the evil flies. This connection is startling in the film and one can find similar connections in the Bible.
TAKING ON THE PAIN OF OTHERS.
An important feature of a Christ figure is the ability to bear "the sins of many" and to take "up our iniquities." JC certainly does this.
ISAIAH 53 IS THE PERFECT PATTERN OF THE SUFFERING SERVANT (CHRIST) IMAGE FROM WHICH JC IS MODELED..
Isaiah 53 (NRSV)
[2] ...he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
[3] He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
[4] Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
[5] But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
[6] All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
[7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
[8] By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
[9] They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
[10] Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
[11] Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
[12] Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Baptism
This movie is about death row in a Louisiana prison. The last walk, from the cell to the electric chair is known at this prison as The Green Mile, due to the color of the floor. One item of special emphasis is that when the condemned man is seated in the electric chair, the prison guard in charge of the execution is supposed to place a wet sponge on top of the head of the prisoner, just before the head strap is secured with one of the main wires for the electrical current. This is meant to speed up the execution on the basis that water is a very good conductor of electricity, and the wet sponge conducts the current immediately into the brain of the prisoner. This kills the inmate quickly, and mercifully (as mercifully as this method can make possible). When I saw this scene in which one of the inmates was electrocuted, the placement of the wet sponge seemed to immediately suggest to me the action of baptism. The water was placed on the name of the inmate, symbolically in the name of the state, which authorizes the execution. The preparation for the execution is ended, just before the juice is turned on, with the words: "God have mercy on your soul!" It was also interesting that, when one prisoner is executed, and the guard in charge fails to use water on the sponge, there is a very ugly, painful and vicious electrocution in which the prisoner does not die immediately, but is badly burned and thrashes back and forth until the body is essentially a pile of charred remains. That suggests a continuation of the baptismal theme, with a negative result occurring when "baptism" does not occur. Perhaps that result is a little bit like burning in hell?
Call
Tom Hanks' character is "called" from his accepted (and societally acceptable) role as head honcho for Death Row to the cause of grace in the unlikely person of his enormous black inmate at the time of his being grasped through the bars by the compassion of his prisoner and healed of his terrible urinary tract infection, of all things. He is, as are we all when touched by the hand of God, irrevocably called and committed to a cause, a person, well beyond the pale of his previous existence.
Children (Child Types) as Mediators
John Coffin (J. C.) is 'child-like' following where he is needed, bring light and life, afraid of the dark, yet bringing healing to people, judgment to the system, forgiveness to the merciful, and an awesome experience of gentle love to any who will receive it.
Crucifixion
John Coffey's death - an innocent healer who prays for and forgives those who execute him
Determination/Perseverance
The prison guards are determined to bring John Coffey to heal the warden's wife.
Divine Human
John Coffey (J.C.) as healer, miracle worker, redeemer, super-human, suffering servant.
Forgiveness
John Coffey (J.C.) forgives his executioners before his death.
Guilt/Regret
"I felt the scene where Hank's character was explaining to his lady friend in the nursing home why he was really much older than he appeared, brought out Pope John Paul's message that even though we are not directly responsible for the sins of society, that we carry the responsibility to pray and sacrifice for atonement of these sins, that we are members of the Body, and therefore share in the responsibility."
Healing/Healers
John Coffey (J.C.) as healer who restores health and prolongs life.
Institutional Evil
Percy as the Personification of Institutional Evil.
Miracles
John Coffey the healer.
John Coffey brings the mouse back to life.
Prayer
John Coffey prays with the warden before his death.
Evil as "Possession"
"Wild Bill = the evil that can and does possess anyone."
Sanctuary
Execution room is set up like a church sanctuary.
Seeing/Seeing something differently
through John Coffey (J.C.), the warden learns to see the world differently
Suffering of the Innocent
The wrongfully-convicted John Coffey (J.C.) as a suffering servant figure.
Suffering Servant
John Coffey as suffering servant
Wrongly Accused
John Coffey is mistakenly accused of killing the girls.
Assignment: The Green Mile
Refer to your notes on Catholic Social Teaching
Part I. Answer the following questions in detailed paragraphs. (Typed)
1. Describe how The Green Mile relates to themes of Catholic social teaching in each category. (DCROWSC)
2. How can John Coffey’s life be paralleled to the suffering of Jesus Christ?
3. Describe the transformation of Paul Edgecomb’s (Tom Hanks) heart throughout the film.
4. Describe the evil that you witnessed throughout the lifestyles of Percy and Wild Bill, and how they represent our society at times.
5. What was your final reaction to the film?
"The Green Mile" awakens in us a need to examine our beliefs, and the way in which we behave during our lives. Most of us fall somewhere between John Coffey and "Wild Bill," on the scale of human nature, and we're comfortable with our lifestyle.. Sometimes our contentment is not a positive thing, but rather has a lulling affect that keeps us from speaking up when we see a child heading towards trouble, when we know a friend could use a helping hand but we're just too busy ...
If it accomplishes nothing else, the movie gives us pause to ask if we couldn't be something more-If we shouldn't be something more.
Part II. In a 2 page (typed) essay:
Describe the challenges that you face everyday standing up for your beliefs as a Christian Leader, and the courage it takes to be a Christian Leader in a society that is so secular.