The Green Mile 1999

Written for the screen and directed by Frank Darabont

Based on the novel by Stephen King

Characters: Paul Edgecomb

Brutus “Brutal” Howell

Dean Stanton > guards

Harry Terwilliger

Percy Wetmore

John Coffey

Eduard Delacroix

Arlen Bitterbuck > prisoners

William Wharton

“Toot-Toot”

Jan Edgecomb

Warden Hal Moores

Melinda Moores

Elaine (Paul’s friend in the nursing home)

Burt Hammersmith (John’s defense attorney)

Kathe and Cora Detterick

Mr. Jingles

Questions:

-  What is the author’s commentary about good and evil? In what ways can good people be capable of committing evil actions? How does Paul view his allowing John to be executed? Why does John tell him this was an act of kindness?

-  How does the author explore the idea of the monster? In what ways do our assumptions about people and things sometimes lead to misjudging them? How can an institution, such as a prison or psychiatric hospital, take on a monstrous quality? In what ways can one’s society be monstrous?

-  Although John is truly innocent of the crimes he is convicted for, Eduard and Arlen are not. How does the author humanize these characters and portray them in ways that we can view them with a degree of sympathy or compassion?

-  The visual design of the film plays an essential role in conveying the mood of particular scenes. How does the director use elements such as lighting, color, and other design features to emphasize the emotional dimension of a scene?

-  Along with the visual design, sound and music can play a significant role in expressing the mood of a scene. How does the director use sound and music, especially the score for the film, to reveal the emotional dimension of a scene?

-  Over the course of the story, the characters witness several unusual, perhaps even supernatural events. What are the implications of these events?

-  What is the author’s commentary on the ideas of justice and injustice? What do you think of John’s punishment for Percy and “Wild Bill/Billy the Kid” Wharton?

-  When John shows Paul how Wharton killed Kathe and Cora, he says “He kill them with their love. With their love for each other. That's how it is, every day, all over the world.” How do you interpret this?

-  Right before his execution, John says “I’m sorry for what I am.” What do you think he meant?

Quotes

Paul: On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job.

John: You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you’re hurting and worrying, I can feel it on you, but you ought to quit on it now. I want it to be over and done with. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I’m tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to, coming from, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?

Paul: I'm a 108 years old, Elaine. I was 44 the year that John Coffey walked the Green Mile. You mustn't blame John. He couldn't help what happened... he was just a force of nature. Oh I've lived to see some amazing things, Elly. Another century come to pass… but I've had to see my friends and loved ones die off through the years... Hal and Melinda, Brutus Howell, my wife, my boy. And you Elaine... you'll die too, and my curse is knowing that I'll be there to see it. It's my atonement you see; it's my punishment for letting John Coffey ride the lightning, for killing a miracle of God. You'll be gone like all the others. I'll have to stay. Oh, I'll die eventually, of that I'm sure. I have no illusions of immortality, but I will have wished for death long before death finds me. In truth, I wish for it already. I lie in bed most nights thinking about it. And I wait. I think about all the people I’ve loved, now long gone. I think about my beautiful Jan, how I lost her so many years ago. And I think about all of us walking our own Green Mile, each in our own time. But one thought, more than any other, keeps me awake most nights: if he could make a mouse live so long, how much longer do I have? We each owe a death - there are no exceptions - but, oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long.

John: He killed them with their love, their love for each other. Now you see how it is. That's how it is every day. That’s the way it is all over the world.

John: I fell asleep this afternoon and had me a dream. I dreamed about Del's mouse. I dreamed Mr. Jingles got down to that place Boss Howell talked about, that Mouseville place. I dreamed there was kids, and how they laughed at his tricks! I dreamed those two little blonde-headed girls were there. They’s laughing, too. I put my arms around 'em and sat 'em on my knees, and there was no blood coming outta their hair and they’s just fine. We all watched Mr. Jingles roll that spool. How we did laugh. Fit to bust, we was.

Eduard: Au revoir, mon ami. Je t'aime, mon petit. (Goodbye, my friend. I love you, my little one).