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The Green Mile

Date: May 11 2000

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Plot: A man named John Coffey is sent to prison for killing two young girls. Once in prison, the guards begin to see that this man is a gentle giant who can perform miracles.
Clip: In this scene, Paul Edgecomb (a prison guard played by Tom Hanks) goes to meet John’s lawyer. Paul has a hard time believing John murdered the children, and he wants to ask the lawyer’s personal opinion.

Dialog

1. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

lawyer

Paul

lawyer: Have a seat. Which client? Now that you’ve got my curiosity aroused. *

Paul: John Coffey.

lawyer: Oh, Coffey. Causing you problems?

Paul: No, no. Can’t say he is. He doesn’t like the dark and he cries on occasion, but other than that…

lawyer: He cries, does he? He’s got a lot to cry about, I’d say. You know what he did?

Paul: I read the court transcript.

lawyer: What exactly are you trying to find out?

Paul: I wondered if he ever did anything like that before.

lawyer: Why? Has he said anything?

Paul: No, but a man who does a thing like that has often developed a taste for it over time. It might be easy enough to follow his backtrails and find out. A man his size, and color to boot, can’t be that hard to trace.

lawyer: You’d think so, but you’d be wrong. Believe me, we tried. It’s like he dropped out of the sky.

Paul: How can that be?

lawyer: Well, with the depression, a third of the country is out of work, people are drifting by the thousands, looking for jobs… even a giant like Coffey wouldn’t get noticed everywhere he goes. Not until he kills a couple little girls.

Paul: He is, uh, strange, I admit, but there doesn’t seem to be real violence in him. I know a violent man, Mr. Hemmersmith, I deal with them day in and day out.

lawyer: You didn’t come up here to ask me whether he might have killed them. You came up here to see if I think he did it at all.

Paul: Do you?*

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Discussion

This conversation is between two adult men who are meeting for the first time. The speech is a little bit formal, and since the movie takes place in the 1950’s, there isn’t too much slang used. Tom Hanks, once again, does a great job. He has successfully shown that he can play a variety of roles in movies. His supporting cast is also very believable. The story is very good, and makes you wonder if miracles really can happen. This movie was nominated for Best Picture, and I can see why. See it when you can. I give it an 8 (out of 10). From the front row, John