When you first get a glimpse of Michael Clarke Duncan in
any movie or television series, the first impression he makes of, of a giant behemoth,
standing at 6ft 5inches and weighing 290pounds. He looks monstrous.
Though nothing in him makes him look ugly, his flat nose,
his thick lips, his bald pate or his rippling shoulders none of these things
make him look ugly. Maybe it is case of a person's inherent goodness.
We so easily judge people by the way they look, it is an
experience which I have felt though out my life too. And it feels so strange
that as you physically change, the people who do not know you very well keep
altering their perspective about you.
If I am fat, I will be proclaimed to be shy, stupid and
someone not ready to get out of his comfort zone. So if I lose the excess fat,
add some muscles, pierce my ear, get a tattoo then I become a playboy and a
dude!!!!
But what happened during the process of growing from fat
to thin which changed me? The answer is nothing!.
I generally hang out in a badminton court with my friends
where we smoke, we chill and crib. There is a bunch of kids play badminton. It’s
an evenly balanced group of fat and thin kids. The fat kids I find our more
aggressive, they show leader like qualities. And that’s that.
So we are what we are, we alter ourselves, temper
ourselves to be better but a change in physicality will never make us any different.
So coming back to the point of Michael Clarke Duncan, when
I was a young kid my favorite genre of movies was action. Hence I saw him in
two movies one was “The Daredevil” and second was “The Scorpion King”.
His portrayal of Kingpin was menacing and on the other
hand his portrayal of a loyal supporter to a justified uprising was heartwarming.
The main inference I drew from this was that this is a
man you can never mess with, even recently he was cast as Jake's girlfriend's
father (Two and a Half Men) and predictably Charlie Sheen and his brother were
shit scared of him.
And I was like: Man, this dude is a bad ass.
Yesterday I was lazing around at home checking with
friends if anybody was interested in watching MIB 3 and as usual all the lazy
bums wanted to chill at home.
Nothing was up on TV besides a movie called 'The Green
Mile' starring Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse and James
Cromwell.
Michael Clarke Duncan is introduced as an inmate on death
row, who is extremely massive and as he walks in, one of the jailor keeps
shouting "Dead Man Walking" "Dead Man Walking" with his
each step. The man taking those steps is not a bad ass but a sweet, innocent hulk
of a man.
When introduced to Tom Hanks, he says: "My name is
John Coffey Sir, boss! Sounds like Coffey but spelt differently"
A man who is being charged of raping and murdering two
little girls, but his introduction is enough to make you realize that this
person can never hurt anyone.
A true gift of God, he has magic healing powers and he
heals Tom Hanks, James Cromwell's wife and even a fellow prisoner's dead mouse,
"Mr. Jingles".
His tears when the other inmates are electrocuted to
death are most shocking and touching, he will make you cry.
When it is John Coffey's time to walk The Green Mile, Tom
hanks is inconsolable, he does not want to commit the crime of killing God's
special Child. HE asks him:
Hanks: "What do you want me to do John?"
John Coffey: " I know what you feeling Sir Boss, but
I have accepted this and I want this to be over. All my life I have been on the
road alone. No mate to share my life with, like a lonely sparrow on a rainy
day" " I cannot see this pain and this hatred people have for each
other. The time is ripe for me to go. But before I die, I would like to watch
one of them flicker pictures. Yu know I never saw one of them sir boss"
And with that John Coffey departs from the world as we
know it, leaving behind teary eyed prison guards who alone knew his truth, a
special man, a true child of God.
It was so strange that a man his stature could downplay
his stature to such an extent, he genuinely generated sympathy and compassion
for all that is good in our lives. A movie more touching than "The Passion
of The Christ"
A must watch to learn that it is not always that what we
see is what we get.
It’s a journey that all of must take to see beyond our
perceptions.
A character like John Coffey is well remembered even
after they are gone.
An Excerpt from Wikipedia
As Hanks finishes his story, he notes that he requested a transfer to a youth detention center, where he spent the remainder of his career. Elaine questions his statement that he had a fully grown son at the time and Paul explains that he was 44 years old at the time of John's execution and that he is now 108 and still in excellent health. This is apparently a side effect of John giving a "part of himself" to Paul. Mr. Jingles, Del's mouse resurrected by John, is also still alive—but Paul believes his outliving all of his relatives and friends to be a punishment from God for having John executed. Paul explains he has deep thoughts about how "we each owe a death; there are no exceptions; but, Oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long." Paul is left wondering, if Mr. Jingles has remained alive for all of this time being but a mouse, how long will it be before his own death?
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