Film Analysis Of The Green Mile

The Green Mile, 1999, directed by Frank Darabont has an important scene In the film. The scene consists of four main characters Paul Edgecomb head of death row, Percy Wetmore, one of the security guards, Mr. Jingles a small mouse who lurks around the block and lastly a big built prisoner named John Coffey. Mr. Jingles death takes place in the scene when Percy Wetmore harshly stomps his foot down on top of the mouse giving a quick execution, after the death takes place he is divinely resurrected from the darkness of death by John Coffey. Power is the idea that will be explored through using camera shots and angles, lighting , sound effects and costume.

Frank Darabont uses camera shots and angles to show energy dominance for the characters. Camera angles are shown dominance when Wetmore executes Mr. Jingles and Edgecomb has to confront the situation. Using techniques the camera is tilted down and allows us to observe the arrogant actions Wetmore is producing towards Edgecomb. Wetmore is being cocky because he wants to be more intimidating than his boss making him desperate to contain domination. Camera shots show energy by using a camera technique called an extreme close up. The camera is zoomed up closely outlining John Coffey's hands and we have a glimpse of Mr. Jingles weightless limp tail peeking through an opening part of his divided hands. Having the camera up close on his hands show his hands are humongous filling

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The film, The Green Mile, portrays several deep religious themes through symbolism to portray the main character John Coffey. The ideas of Christianity are shown through several of these underlying themes. The cross and God are the key religious symbols portrayed throughout this movie. Some of the main themes I will talk about are capital punishment, racism and Christianity symbols. Also, I will describe ways cinematography is used in the film; some examples are cross cutting, flashback, three shot and close–up.

Plot Summary

The main prison guard, Paul Edgecomb, has a very serious bladder infection during the movie that distracts him from the outside world. Paul possesses a faith in God and everyday watches inmates enter Death Row. When...show more content...

Before electrocution the primary methods of capital punishment were hanging, firing squad and gas chambers (Dow, 2000). The era of The Green Mile takes place in the 1930s, but Louisiana did not begin to use the electric chair until around 1940. Studies show that King made an error on the timespan in his book (Arbeiter, 2015). Texas was the first state to use lethal injections on prisoners on death row in 1977, and is now the only type of capital punishment used (Dow, 2000).

During this time, African Americans experienced prejudice towards them and were not given an equal chance. This statistic will help the audience understand the segregation occurring in this movie; during the early 1930's about 50% of the Southern towns were African American and the people did not have the right to vote (Dieter, 1998). African Americans were not allowed to marry whites at the time or even date in public. This movie opens with police officers screaming at John Coffey and pointing guns at him. This is the first example of racism shown in the movie. It was found that in 1983 Philadelphia, as well as other states, African Americans were more likely to get the death penalty. Research also shows that 38% of African Americans were given the death penalty over other ethnic groups that committed the same crimes (Dieter, 1998). Even after all this, John Coffey is still the definition of compassion. He has a huge heart full of grace and sorrow. He wants to see more

The Green Mile is beyond unique with the bizarre (or gruesome) plot that Stephen King sets up. King, being a horror story writer, is known for his gory stories that keep readers on edge and up at night. But The Green Mile is different. No ghosts, vampires, rabid dogs, or anything of the sort. Just good ol' fashion rape and murder... or that's what King wants you think. The story takes place in the early 1930s on death row in the Cold Mountain State Penitentiary. Paul Edgecomb narrates the story of when he was Death Row's (otherwise known as "The Green Mile") cell block supervisor. The story follows Paul, Percy the abusive guard, Eduard Delacroix the crazy arsonist, accused rapist and murderer of twin girls, John Coffey, and last but not least

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The film The Green Mile was originally written by Stephen King and later directed by Frank Darabont. It is based on the guards and inmates of a penitentiary's Death Row during the great depression. There is a certain monotony that comes with working on Death Row and Paul Edgecomb, played by Tom Hanks, has become numb to the fact that he is paid to take lives; that is until John Coffey gets sentenced to death and is sent to Paul's "green mile". John Coffey is a very large black man that was accused of rape and murder of two little girls, and in the 1930's having charges like that brought upon you was grounds for the death penalty, especially for a black man in the south. Through the movie we see that although large in nature, John is quite...show more content...

Jingles. Quite a lot of time has passed in the movie from Paul on the Green Mile to Paul in the nursing home, this is referred to as cinematic time. He has walked with another resident, Elaine who is a minor character, out to an old shed on location filled with objects of the past, usual things found in a shed but they were all covered in dust. Just that screen shot of the two elderly people juxtaposed together to create a composition that plays off of each other is very powerful in itself. The book The Philosophy of Language Film Analysis explains to us that these types of scenarios, elderly people in an old building, help to create a really strong scene and help the movie a lot. If we has seen Paul and Elaine walk into a brand–new mansion the effect of Paul's suffering would not be understood. The next shot is of both Paul and Elaine getting down on the old wood floor and are playing with Mr. Jingles. Then Paul starts explaining the details of the story to Elaine and they go back and forth conversing. He is explaining to her that he was cursed for killing "a miracle of God" and his punishment is to stay alive while those around him that he loves must die. Both he and Mr. Jingles got a piece of John Coffey when they had their little encounters with him, and together they must go on. We see three different shots throughout the majority of this scene. First it goes back and forth with shot and reverse shot as Paul and Elaine are