It is a touching science-fiction drama written by Stephen King about belief, God and wonders. Stephen King is usually a writer of scary stories like The Nightflier and such, but this short story is perhaps a bit science-fiction, but it is not a scary story. It is the best drama I have ever seen!
Suddenly You’re in the middle of a hunt for something, someone, your first impression is that it is a hunt for a predator or a monster.

In the old people’s home, in the dining room, a male caretaker is insinuating that Paul is going on unauthorized trips up to the hills. Paul takes the trip, up on the hills you get to see an old cottage, it excites you.

Back in the old people’s home they start to see a movie, suddenly Paul Edgecomb is beginning to cry. He and his ladyfriend rush out of the room.
It is raining outside and a lot of thoughts flow in the air.
“Ellie did I ever tell you that I was a prisonguard under the depression” “Normally people used to call death row for the last mile. We used to call our mile for the green mile because the floor had the color of faded lime.”

It is under the depression in The United States, two thirdparts of the population are unemployed. Paul, as this old man is named, is working on deathrow where criminals are sent to ”ride the lightning”, or the electric chair. Paul is the superior on this mile. The Green Mile he calls it. His colleagues are boss Brutal and boss Dean plus an old guy named Harry and boss Percy.
Boss Percy is a psycho in the word’s right significance, he is the nephew of the governor’s wife, so being spoiled might have something to do with this maniac’s behavior. He is always in a bad mood and if something embarrassing happens to him he always threats the crew on their jobs.
It starts with a chase, there are a lot of men with guns, it seems like they are hunting a monster. Finally they find him, a black man holding two small girls, they are full of blood. John is screaming: “I couldn’t help it, I tried to take it back but it was too late!”

A mighty negro is standing on the mile, there are three guys around him, he is even bigger than Brutal, and he is big. He is asked about his name, “It’s John Coffey sir, as in the drink, only spelled differently” his voice had a respective character but was still sad and some kind of illiterative.
He is accused of killing and raping two little girls, john Coffey becomes sentenced and gets the penalty of death by electrocution.

When one of the two prisoners on the mile, the Indian, gets to meet his family for one last time before his execution, the guards do a test run. This scene is actually quite entertaining, and funny, ironical enough. The guy they use on the test runs jokes about everything ”Walking the mile, walking the mile, walking the mile, walking the green mile……” with this incredibly annoying voice. And when he sits in the electric chair he goes like ”Uæææ, I’m frying, I’m frying!” His last wish is by such coarsity that should only be allowed in PG. fifteen movies.

In the mental hospital they pick up William Wharton, he seems totally doped but they don’t check it out. Wharton has Billie the kid tattooed on his arm. On the mile again Wild Bill suddenly becomes “alive” again and takes a choking grasp around Dean’s neck. They will never do that mistake again not asking if doped!
The other prisoner on the mile is called Del. He is a Frenchman and is named Edward Delacroix by birth. Becoming friend with a mouse, that he calls Mr. Jingles, comforts Del and gives him better mood which is the best for everybody on the mile. Unfortunately Percy kills the mouse, he steps on it. And it is now the science fiction joins the movie: John Coffey has some kind of God-given magic powers, he helps Del’s mouse back to life again.
Before his execution Del gets the opportunity to make a show with Mr. Jingles in front of some important men. He knocks them for a loop. After rehearsing Percy gets the mission of executing Del on the conditions of that he will quit afterwards. Before an electrocution you always have to put a wet sponge on the victims head. Percy doesn’t do this and that has a catastrophic result.
While he is executed and Coffey is taking care of Mr. Jingles, something happens. A lot of disturbance, the mouse seems hurt.

Paul’s boss’ wife has a brain tumor and she is dreadfully ill. Paul and the guys decide to help her. After having anaesthetized Wild Bill and put Percy on a solitary confinement, they go to meet Hal and Melinda in the middle of the night. John does his job and as grateful as she is, Melinda gives him an emotional hug before they have to go again. Back on the mile John transfers the illness to Percy which shoots William Wharton six times in the chest. After shooting him, Percy is totally lost, nobody seems to get contact with him, so they place him in a mental hospital. The same one as they picked up Wild Bill in.
When John is entering the last room he will ever place his foot in he begins to cry and whispers: ”There are a lot of folks who hate me here” When he is hooked in the chair he says as his last words ”I’m sorry for what I am!” so it is a kind of a sad ending.

”John Coffey, electricity shall now be passed through your body until you’re dead in accordance to the state law. May God have mercy on your soul!”

”You don’t believe me, do you?” Paul asks her if she feels like taking a walk. Up on the hills he presents to her the old cabin. Inside of it he shows her a little cigarbox. In it there’s a mouse sleeping. Paul throws a cotton reel over the floor and like a little dog Mr. Jingles run after it and rolls it across the floor. ”It can’t be”, she says. ”Well it is……… Ellie I’m 108 years old. When I put John Coffey into the old sparkle, God punished me. He punished me by making me have to see all my friends and family die. It is just one thing that bothers me:

If God can make a mouse live that long, than what will happen to me?”

There wasn’t so much of an Indian character in this story, but…

The End