The Green Mile Performance Analysis

The performance in The Green Mile

- The execution scene

The Green Mile is a 1930s American crime drama adapted from Stephen King's novel of the same name. It follows the work of a death-row prison warden, played by Tom Hanks, as he interacts with the inmates as a part of his job. One of these prisoners is John Coffey, played by Michael Clark Duncan, who was falsely accused of murdering two girls as a result of the racism in that time period. I will be analysing the execution scene of Coffey, exploring his incredible performance that keeps the audience hooked in an emotional string of tension.

The first appearance of Coffey in this scene is as a medium close up of him sitting in the electrocution chair. He is framed slightly to the left, but still relatively in the middle so the audience is focused entirely on his expression. His head is tilted upwards, suggesting he is perhaps looking towards heaven, as Christianity is a recurring motif throughout the film. This is also heavily indicated by the use of lighting; there is a bright white spot of light highlighting his forehead and nose, showing that God is perhaps shining light on him from heaven symbolically, welcoming him into the light as an innocent man. The light around him also suggests he is radiating light that could symbolise hope, kindness, and empathy. This strongly juxtaposes with the tragic scene and makes the audience feel intense sympathy for Coffey; we don't want him to be executed as we know he is innocent, shown by this lighting, almost reminding us of it. The shadow placement is also cleverly symbolic in the way that the darkness is behind him, that he is pure and separated from it. This lighting also shows his skin to appear greasy, showing the glistening sweat that further proves his fear and unease. His head movement shows his anxiety as his eyebrows are tensed, raised, and facing upwards with the inner corners arched to show the veins in his forehead. This shows he is strained and panicking, aided by the quick turn of his head as he observes the ceiling frantically with rapid breaths indicated by his gaping mouth and the rise and fall of his chest. His eyes also dart around in a hyper-focused state; he is fully aware of the situation. His posture is straight, as he is tied to the chair, however this adds to the visual tension and stiffness of his body language. Despite this, his shoulders are relaxed, suggesting that he has accepted his position and that there is no point in resisting it. This entire shot of Coffey demonstrates his incredible acting abilities that truly convey his character's mood and emotional state; if it is easy for the audience to understand exactly how he's feeling, he is exemplifying his acting ability well as his emotions are both relatable and believeable. 

This shot cuts to a medium close-up frame of the spectators within the scene watching his execution, unknowing that he is innocent of the murder of their daughters. This is where we get the first piece of dialogue: "Does it hurt yet? I hope it does. I hope it hurts like hell", heard as a sound bridge from the mother of the murdered children. This dialogue has an aggressive tone and wishes pain on Coffey to compensate for the parents' emotional suffering at the loss of their daughters. The pitch is low, yet there is a slight inflection on the word 'yet' which is a product of the southern accent, and also of the wavering voice that she experiences through her grief. Although she is controlling exactly what she says with good diction and means every word of it, her crying makes her voice quiver to reflect her broken yet passionate mental state. The composition of this shot mirrors Coffey's, as they are also placed in the centre of the frame, however there are lots of people on their side, whereas Coffey is sat alone. This furthers the narrative of separate sides, and how Coffey has been unsupported by the community that is populated by visibly white members that undoubtedly hold power within the 1930s setting; the parents have backup, a support system to witness and experience the execution with them. This racial divide places the audience in the middle to allow us to see the situation from both sides and understand each characters' feelings. Both of the parents' eyeline is directed at Coffey. This is because they feel intense hatred and revenge towards him which is as expected to the audience. However, they are sat far away from him, showing the proximity to be distanced and therefore separate; the parents don't want to be near or associated with the 'murderer' that allegedly took everything away from them. This relationship from their side is cold, and their facial expression is of anger and hurt with unblinking, tearful eye contact to make Coffey aware that they are in charge of the situation and have power over his death. This is shown through their orientation towards him; they are unafraid to face him, revelling in the reality that they will experience revenge for their daughter's death. Another example of the visual separation is that the parents are shown to have close bodily contact to show that they are supporting each other and wanting to 'feel' the revenge together emotionally which would be expressed through physical tension. The close-up shots here make the audience feel immersed in the scene, and although there is no perspective shot directly from the characters, (except the warden who is stood in a low angled mid-shot in front of Coffey; this is placed in this way as the audience is aware that the warden knows Coffey is innocent, and he is forced to complete his job, even though he is apprehensive to do so, showing guilt. The low angle also shows that he has the authoritative responsibility over Coffey, which makes his situation worse as he wants Coffey to live), we can feel a sense of involvement within the execution which makes it even more distressing to the audience as we want to scream that he is innocent but is forced to watch Coffey's execution along with the crowd who denies the truth. This loss of control subverts our expectations and is heightened by the long nature of each shot, keeping us hooked.

This next dialogue from Coffey is heart-breaking to the audience and makes his death even more unjustified. The warden asks Coffey if he "has anything to say before the sentence is carried out". Firstly, the warden's tone is very flat and authoritative, yet not in a controlling way. He has control of the situation through his eye contact and duty, but he is utterly empathetic towards Coffey and shows respect for his decision to willingly accept his undeserved penalty. The unbreaking eye contact from the warden demonstrates that he is focused on Coffey and perhaps keeping that visual connection while he is still alive; he would be doing a disservice to refuse any eye contact after Coffey's nobility. In response to his question, the shot cuts to Coffey in an intimate close-up where we can see his stress increased, aided by the closer focus on his facial expression and quivering voice in his dialogue: "I'm sorry for what I am". This contrasts with the parents' dialogue which was very brutal. Coffey apologises for something he cannot control and shows empathy towards the parents as the audience knows he tried to save the daughters and was framed. This shot of Coffey illustrates that he has changed slightly from worry to fear and acceptance; his eyes are glistening with tears, his lips quiver as he speaks and continue to shake after finishing, and his eyebrows are angled upwards with the same tension as before. He takes a short breath after he finishes talking which suggests he is at a loss for words - a sign of acceptance. His voice is also gravelly, with a very low pitch, shown in his southern accent, and he moves his head downwards as he speaks which implies nodding and therefore he truly means what he says. His place in 1930s society is also reminded to the audience by his use of incorrect grammar throughout the film, presenting that he hasn't been formally educated like the rest of the characters. This alienates him further and makes the audience feel intense sympathy as we are shown his struggles within the community- this will be heightened if the audience has knowledge of the social context of the time period. However, his speech patterns are similar to how a child would speak, such as his slow pace and simple phrasing, which could support the reasoning for why the audience feels the need to almost 'protect' him from persecution as we can resonate his innocence with that of a child. 

This childlike notion is reinforced in the next shot. This occurs after a shot of the warden first breaking eye contact by closing his eyes to indicate that the other warden must put the black bag over Coffey's head as a matter of course. To this, Coffey pleads against by saying "Please boss. Don’t put that thing over my face. Don’t put me in the dark. I's afraid of the dark". This is a common fear for children to have and therefore makes him even more susceptible to sympathy from the audience. His line delivery is still gravelly and low-pitched, commonly used when someone feels sadness or defeat, and the shine on his face shows tears forming; he feels so much sadness, yet it is at the fault of his personality and his 'powers' that were shown earlier in the film, not at his death. His pure kindness is towards the family and community, suggesting that he believes he has failed them. This evokes a strong emotion within the audience as well as the wardens within the scene, as it makes his execution agonisingly unjustified: how could these people let such an innocent, kind man die? Especially after his intentions to help the world, despite how it treated him. This shot is the first time Coffey has direct bodily contact with another character. However, this is juxtaposed to the parents as his contact is unrequested, and as a force of requirement rather than support that the parents had. His proximity is close to the warden behind, but he is forced to not face him. This also makes his line more powerful as he fully engages eye contact with the warden in front and is at his mercy which evokes a startled emotion within the warden as his eyes widen, his mouth opens slightly, and he looks to the side at his colleague in a glance of how to respond.

Now, the power dynamic has switched as Coffey has initiated a request that is greatly unavoidable as we feel that he is deserving of a painless death, even if that means not seeing darkness. This is because we don't want to see Coffey suffering after experiencing all his suffering throughout the film, and that urge for protection reinforces this. The warden's reaction shows that he has lost a sense of control as he wasn't expecting Coffey to request that, contrasting with his previous (mostly) emotionless facial expression and statement delivery. The warden's facial expression perfectly conveys how the audience is also feeling at that moment: pity, concern, and sadness at such a simple request. Again, this subverts our expectations and increases our emotional investment within Coffey's character. The fact that we can feel all these complex emotions at once from such a simple line delivery ultimately proves how fantastic Duncan's performance of Coffey was, so much so that we forget we're watching a film with actors and not real people.

I cannot stress enough how phenomenal the entire performances of all the characters were in this film, and this is only a very small snippet of it. If you haven't seen it already, I recommend you watch it and experience these emotions first-hand; you won't ever forget it. 

 RIP Michael Clark Duncan.