Do you think you can’t get emotional while watching a movie or shedding tears is out of the question?
If yes, then you must watch a nearly 24-year-old film that will melt your heart as well as make your eyes water.
The film ‘The Green Mail’ was released in 1999 and revolved around the inmates of a prison.
This film was directed by Frank Darabont, the director of The Shawshank Redemption.
Its story was based on the 1996 novel of the same name by author Stephen King.
The film starred Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morris, Bonnie Hunt and others.
The film was also nominated for 4 Oscars but failed to win any awards.
It is considered one of the best heartwarming movies and is ranked 27th on IMDB’s top rated movies.
The duration of the film is more than 3 hours but its story does not let you get bored.
The plot
The Green Mail revolves around a prison supervisor, Paul Edgecombe (Tom Hanks), and John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a death row inmate who arrives there.
This prisoner is very different from the others who looks scary but has a kind heart as well as supernatural abilities.
He has an amazing ability to feel other people’s pain and solve their problems.
At the beginning of the film, the protagonist is shown living in an old-age home in 1999, but he has flashbacks to the events that took place in 1935 when he was a prison supervisor.
In his prison John Coffey was brought in for the murder of 2 girls and was afraid of the dark.
During this time, Paul Edgecomb was suffering from a bladder infection, which the prisoner cured.
After this ability of the prisoner, Paul Edge doubts how such a soft-hearted person can kill someone and he also learns about his innocence.
Then what happens next while one of the prison staff causes problems, you will know only by watching this interesting film.
But this film shows how badly prisoners were once treated in American prisons and also teaches that charisma can happen anywhere.
A few interesting facts
The role of John Coffey in the film was played by Michael Clarke Duncan and people liked it, but according to Shaquille O’Neal, an American basketball legend, he was offered the role, but he turned it down.
Famous Hollywood actor Bruce Wills suggested the name of Michael Clarke Duncan who had worked with him in Armageddon for the role of John Coffey.
The role of Tom Hanks was first offered to actor John Travolta but he turned it down.
When Tom Hanks was offered the role, he immediately accepted it as he had turned down the lead role in another of the director’s films, The Shawshank Redemption, which he regretted.
The middle-aged role of Paul Edgecomb was played by Tom Hanks, while another actor, Dabbs Greer, was hired to portray his old age.
In the film, an important character named Mr. Juggler was played by a rat and more than 30 rats were used for this purpose.
Well, the film was about death row inmates, but there were many other themes in it, so the director himself didn’t know what the film was about.
Stephen King’s novel was adapted into a screenplay by the director and during this time his cat was diagnosed with a tumor and this incident influenced the story of the film.
In order to accurately portray his character’s emotional state in the film, Michael Clarke Duncan kept thinking about his father, who left him when he was a child.
