Salvation lies within

The strength, resilience and power of the human soul.

So, here we are at the end of my movie month of May, and I thought what better way to end than with the triumph of the human spirit. The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are among my favourite films of all-time for their enduring quality. Both of these incredibly moving and uplifting films are by Frank Darabont, and are screen adaptations of Stephen King novels. Both of these films principally take place in 30s/40s America, are set in prisons involving wrongful convictions and have religious underpinnings. I hadn’t watched The Green Mile in a while, but I watch The Shawshank Redemption somewhat regularly, they give me hope, reassure me about humanity and give me strength to continue on living.

Photo credit: Photofest (source linked)

The Green Mile is set in Louisiana at the fictitious “Cold Mountain” Penitentiary in the year 1935. This was the year John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) was an inmate on the infamous Green Mile. “The Mile” was for the death row prisoners, those deemed for execution by electric chair, where Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) was head guard/supervisor. Coffey – “just like the drink only not spelled the same” – is a man with an extraordinary gift who is (wrongly) convicted of raping and murdering two little girls (he was trying to save them and bring them back to life). The story follows the impact John has on Paul, the other guards, inmates and beyond.

Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison) is the fresh-faced guard who is the nephew of the wife of the Governor, which makes him think he’s untouchable. He is the complete antithesis to Paul’s good honest man, and clearly the odd one out amongst the guards who no one likes. Paul even describes him to Warden Hal Moores (James Cromwell) as “mean, careless and stupid – that’s a bad combination in a place like this”, believing that Percy just wants to see one fry and hopefully they’ll be rid of him soon.

Despite dealing with some of the most despicable human beings to walk the earth committing the most heinous of crimes, the guards treat these prisoners with calm, dignity and respect, almost comforting them in the final part of life. They understand these people are fragile, stressed/vulnerable and/or volatile, and there is a specific way they need to be handle. I doubt the average person would afford such kindness and mercy on these men given the severity and atrocity of their crimes, and yet it is precisely on these types of people that our level of humanity is tested the most. Except Percy, of course, he’s sadistic (yet weak) he talks down to them, shames/mocks/belittles, even breaks one of the prisoners fingers out of sheer petulance.

Still, it begs the question, given what these convicted criminals have done, and where they are headed/what you’re going to do to them, why would you be so kind and caring towards them even for such a short period of time? Because you can and you should? Because you’re hoping they’ll repent on their sins? Is it the only way to open a path to redemption for such people?

The mouse, later named Mr Jingles by inmate Eduard “Del” Delacroix (Michael Jeter), plays an important part in being a vehicle for goodness and innocence, especially in a place where you think there was none. Mr Jingles transforms Del into almost a state of childlike wonder and kindness, bringing out a humanity that none would have thought possible for a rapist and murderer. More on the mouse later.

Paul first becomes aware of John’s abilities when he cures him of his “pissing razor blades” problem, when he thought he was being attacked. Coffey just wants to help and removes the sickness before exhaling it into the air, to the disbelief of Paul. It clearly takes a lot out of John to do this – as it does when reducing people’s suffering – and is nothing shy of a miracle. John is such a physically imposing figure of towering strength, and yet has the purest soul.

A new prisoner arrives, William “Wild Bill” Wharton (Sam Rockwell), and John can sense the evil in him and warns Paul, but it is too late as he gets guard Stanton (Barry Pepper) around the neck and begins choking him. Percy freezes, instead of intervening, as the fight continues before being ended by guard Howell (David Morse). This reiterates how weak and selfish a person Percy is, and how much a team the others are. Percy later gets grabbed by Wild Bill, and pisses himself, much to the amusement of his former victim, Del. Percy extracts revenge on Del for laughing at his humiliation by stomping on Mr Jingles and killing him. However, John proceeds to bring Mr Jingles back to life, which, naturally, Percy doesn’t believe.

As if to further ram home what a truly despicable human being Percy is, at Del’s execution, Percy decides to tell him that the others lied to him about where the mouse was going after his death – see point re: comforting – showcasing his lack of humanity to not let Del die with peace of mind. What he also did next is truly sickening (and honestly one of the most horrific and visceral scenes I’ve ever watched); he deliberately did not wet the sponge so the electricity did not run to the designated spot for a quick kill, causing a prolonged electric shock, immense suffering and making him inhumanely burn alive…truly brutal and sadistic. Percy tries to turn away when he realises how horrifying it is, but Paul makes him watch what he created. Coffey “feels” Del’s tremendous pain and is left exhausted in his cell.

After witnessing enough of John’s exploits, everyone puts their livelihood on the line to break John out to go see the Warden’s wife, who is terminally ill with brain cancer, to see if John can cure her suffering. You have to remember, it’s the 1930s, in the south, taking a big black man out of prison who is convicted of raping and murdering two little girls, over to the Warden’s house to see if he can perform another miracle…I mean, that takes a lot of strength and courage, depth of soul and trust to be able to agree to undertake, let alone be okay with whatever the consequences might be. John inhales the sickness out the Warden’s wife and returns her to full health, to the relief of everybody, especially the Warden, however, John doesn’t expel it from his body and they barely make it back to the prison.

What happens next is that John purges the bad into Percy, and “uses” Percy to kill Wild Bill and sends Percy insane (looks like he got that transfer to Briar Hill Mental Asylum after all haha just not the cushy admin job). As it turned out, Wild Bill was the one who raped and killed the little girls, and John shows that vision to Paul while saying, “that’s how it is every day, all over the world”, before imparting some of himself onto Paul. Imagine seeing what actually happened, and not being able to do share the evidence to acquit John? Sure, John rid the world of two more evils, but the inability to do something about John’s upcoming execution weighs heavily on Paul’s soul, wondering what judgement he’ll face by killing one of God’s true miracles. Coffey replies that it is a kindness you’ll be doing him, that he wants the suffering he faces to be over and done with, that…

“I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, 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.” – John Coffey

John gets executed, although he does his best to put the others at ease when the unenviable task of executing an innocent man and “one of God’s miracles”, in a real juxtaposing scene as the public are raging and upset over the crimes they believe he commit, whereas all the guards are in tears for having to kill the purest of souls. Paul shakes John’s hand one last time as John communicates one final message to him, “He kill them with their love. With their love for each other. That's how it is, every day, all over the world.”

We return to where the opening scene left off, with an old Paul at a retirement house. He never talked to anyone about his time on the mile until one day watching tv the same movie that John watched as his final goodbye came on and it broke him emotionally. He then shows a friend where he goes for a walk every day, to see the mouse Mr Jingles in a wooden hut. Paul is now 108 years old, still going strong thanks to John. However, outliving everyone is his punishment for killing John, a miracle of God. It’s such a tragically beautiful story. That’s one hell of a burden for Paul to carry by himself. The fortitude to continue on, knowing what you know, seeing what you’ve seen, and keeping it locked within…that’s true strength and a deep soul.

Photo credit: Alamy Stock Photo (source linked)

The Shawshank Redemption is set in Maine from the 1940s to 1960s at Shawshank Prison, and follows the story of Andrew “Andy” Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a Portland banker who is charged with murdering his wife and her lover despite professing his innocence. Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with a fellow con, Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), who smuggles contraband into prison as a regular “Sears and Roebuck”, and the two become quite close/good friends. Andy escapes from prison after nearly 20 years by tunnelling through the wall hidden by a poster and crawling out of the sewage pipe.

When Andy arrives at Shawshank, Red doesn’t think much of him, thinking a stiff breeze would blow him over. However, as it turned out, appearances can be deceiving, and some people end up displaying more fortitude and courage than we first thought. Prison, especially back in those days, was a real test of endurance and resilience. Some didn’t survive the test – the character “Fat Ass” gets beaten to death the first night in by the captain of the guards Hadley (Clancy Brown), as the inmates go hunting for “fresh fish” (a game to see which new inmate will squeal first). Prison life is brutal, violent, under the guise of “discipline”, yet humiliating (the delousing scene where you’re walked to your cell naked)…you are broken down physically and mentally. Later on, Andy has to fight off the “Bull Queers” several times, sometimes winning, sometimes not. It takes a hell of a man to keep fronting up to that reality and not call it quits.

It’s clearly evident the role humour plays in mitigating their terrible circumstance. In the face of suffering, being able to laugh is crucial, and we see that with numerous examples; “didn’t do it, lawyer fucked me”, “everybody’s innocent in here, didn’t you know that?”, and “…I had to come to prison to be a crook”, are among some of my personal favourites.

Red notices quickly that Andy is unlike any of the other men in here, and their friendship begins to blossom. While tarring the roof of a building, Andy essentially risks his life to offer financial help to captain Hadley – I admit, starting with “do you trust your wife?”, is likely to get you thrown off the roof. Morgan Freeman’s narration is top notch throughout the whole movie, but here when Red is trying to understand why Andy did it, was it to win favour with the guards or a few friends among us cons, but settles with “I think Andy did it to feel normal again”, which to me is closer to the truth. Prison is such an abnormal situation, the desire to cling on to a shred of outside world normality is key to Andy’s character. In doing so, captain Hadley sorts problem with “Bull Queers”, and gets beers for fellow inmates working on tar roof. Things seem to be looking up for Andy.  

During a cell toss which Warden Norton (Bob Gunton) ends by handing back the bible to Andy and saying, “salvation lies within”, which in this sense is both theological and literal, as Andy kept his rock hammer hidden in the bible. The two bible verses each character conveys to each other is also telling, for Andy “watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh” – basically, to keep an eye out for Warden/guards at any moment coming to spoil his plan of tunnelling out. The Warden responds with, "I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." – essentially, I’m the boss here, listen to me, follow my rules and your sins will be absolved and you’ll be on your way to a better life. It’s at this point where Andy gets given the job as library assistant to Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore).

There is this recurring theme of what to occupy your time with in prison, essentially what to keep your mind busy with to stop you from going insane. It is a form of strength and resilience to not lose one’s mind, and Andy does numerous things across the film to positively channel his talents; he creates a chess set (and wants to teach Red), becomes library assistant to Brooks which then leads to library expansion, helping guards financially and then doing tax returns for them all, helps Tommy (Gil Bellows) get his high school equivalency, and starts running/processing Warden Norton’s schemes.

With the arrival of Tommy, things get escalated as he tells Andy he celled with the real murderer of Andy’s crime. Andy sees this as a way out and approaches the Warden about it, but he doesn’t like the idea, and hits the roof when Andy brings up the scams, giving him a month solitary confinement. The Warden then has Tommy shot out near perimeter fence by Hadley to make it look like an escape attempt. Norton visits Andy after a month in solitary and tells Andy of the news. Andy wants out of running schemes/scams and the Warden comes down hard basically letting Andy know who is boss, who is in control, what he’ll do to him and everything he’s done if he stops because “nothing stops.”, before giving him another month of solitary as punishment. Human beings are social creatures, to deprive someone of social interaction is terrible and generally increases the likelihood of turning someone insane. It takes incredible willpower to remain with your mind and soul intact after such treatment. Norton is trying to break Andy’s spirit, once and for all, but fails to do so.   

Upon his return from solitary, Andy and Red have a differing on hope – Red says it’s a dangerous thing, that it can drive a man insane, and serves no use in prison. On the contrary, Andy says here is where it makes the most sense, to not forget about life on the outside. Brooks plays the part of the institutionalised man, the man who is as trapped mentally as he is physically, and Red was heading that way if it weren’t for Andy. Brooks had no hope, didn’t want to be released, and ends up hanging himself in the halfway house. Most of the characters consigned themselves to their fate in prison. Andy did not. And it is precisely hope that prevents Red from going down the same path as Brooks.  

With Tommy’s death, Andy decides he’s been here long enough. Andy escapes in the tunnel he’s burrowed and kept quiet from everybody behind the poster of the current girl of the time (hence the Stephen King novel it’s based off “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”). He crawls through a river of shit to his freedom, then takes off with $350k of Warden Norton’s money, considered severance pay for 19 years. He makes way to place he told Red about – Zihuatanejo, in Mexico, on the Pacific. Earlier, he planted a seed for Red to get out and go find this something he left for him under a tree along a stone wall in the Buxton hay fields – but when he told him, he hadn’t placed it there, but you could tell Red thought he had from sometime before Andy was in prison. Once again, the ideas of hope, strength, resilience, meaning and soul-lifting run thick here.  

After Andy’s breakout, Red and fellow inmates reminisce all the good times with Andy, beautifully summed up by another narration from Red, “sometimes it makes me sad, though...Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.” Red’s arc can go one of two ways here.

Red finally passes the “rehabilitated” interviews and is released. A change of mindset from the “up for rejection” attitude he had earlier, as there is actually a reason, a hope to be released. There is this transition from a false self into true self.

“Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it.”, as Red sees the sign carved by Brooks, and chooses the alternate path. He undertakes the journey described to him by Andy and finds the thing buried exactly where Andy said it would be. He reads the letter, ending on “hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things…”, and makes his way to his friend.

“I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”, narrates as Red arrives to see his friend doing exactly what he said he would – on the beach sanding back an old boat. The two smile at each other, a smile that communicates a survival, a long-lasting friendship, an enriched soul and a choice to get busy living rather than get busy dying.  

Both films are incredibly soul-stirring and great examples of the lengths the human spirit can go when up against adversity, when up against suffering, when up against evil. There is a commendable quality to stoic endurance, fortitude/strength, and resilience. To watch someone go up against something horrific and unjust, and still prevail without losing themselves, the integrity of their character, is tremendously life-affirming and speaks directly to the soul of my being.

That now concludes my (rather lengthy!) movie month of May, I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Please do give me feedback about what you liked and didn’t like, and perhaps what movies and themes you’d like me to explore in the future.  

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