The Shawshank Redemption

“Hope is a very good thing. Maybe, even the best of things and no good thing ever dies”.

~ Andy Dufresne

The Shawshank redemption is a 1994 American drama film, starring Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Redding/ Red in the lead. It is written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novel: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. It was initially a box office failure due to several reasons -- unpopularity associated with prison dramas and absence of any key female characters being two of them. However, this film reached its mark as it went on to receive seven Academy award nominations, two Golden globe nominations, many more prestigious awards and global recognition.

This movie tells the story of a banker- Andy Dufresne, who gets falsely convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover. Consequentially, he is given two life sentences and is sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary. He befriends a fellow prison inmate- Red, a contraband smuggler during his time there and later gets involved in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden, Samuel Norton. ( Bob Gunton)

Andy navigates through the harsh prison life, forms everlasting and life changing bonds and gets through all the adversities in this aesthetic, insightful and emotional piece of art that illustrates the power of hope.

For someone who was sent to a hellhole for a crime he did not commit, Andy’s character is shown to be so full of hope, patience and optimism. Although, he strikes as a “cold fish” to most people around him due to his somewhat cold demeanor and the atrocity of the crime he was charged for, he was in reality, a meticulous individual who changed the lives of people around him for good. He is consistent and constructive in his approach as he builds up the prison library and uses his knowledge to educate his fellow inmates. During his time in Shawshank, he is physically assaulted, sent into solitary a couple of times and forced into doing everyone’s dirty work. He makes a rather special bond with one of the inmates, Tommy Williams, who is shot dead by the warden as he was the proof of Andy’s innocence. Life gave Andy all the reasons not to be hopeful but he doesn’t give up on life, not even after his only living proof of innocence that could finally get him out of jail was shot in the head on orders of the warden. Isn’t this nothing but inspirational?

‘Institutionalized’ means established as a part of an official organisation / apathetic and dependent after a long time in an institution. This is a major theme of this movie and is essentially portrayed through the character of Brooks Hatlen, an old prison librarian and a member of Red’s gang. He is released from Shawshank after 50 years and faces trouble coming to terms with the fact that his parole was approved. After having spent so much time in prison, the outside world doesn’t seem to make sense to him at all. The walls are all he ever knew and he finds it more and more difficult by the day to get accustomed to the society. Brooks was a wise, old, respected and an educated man inside the prison but he was nobody on the outside. There is loss of purpose, emptiness and dilemma that is shown through his character in the most sophisticated manner possible. He is so daunted by the outside world that he ends up hanging himself, overwhelmed by the anxiety associated with the day to day life. This conveys how these men deal with loss of identity once they re-join the society due to them being totally ‘institutionalized’.

Freedom is the one feeling that most prisoners have not known. Inspite of the turbulent circumstances Andy had to face on a daily basis, he tried his best to find freedom for himself and for others. Whether it was the time he asked the Captain for cold beer for his friends in exchnage for handling his finances or when he locked the guard inside the bathroom and played Mozarts’ Figaro over the prison’s PA system. He did it to ‘feel free’ and shared this with the others too. From wanting to feel it to actually getting it once again after escaping from Shawshank, he establishes the fact that the concept of freedom might seem basic but it plays a primal role in people’s lives. The same promise of hope and freedom saves Red from suffering the same fate Brooks did.

As the title suggests, Redemption is the final and the most important theme of this movie. When Andy relishes and embraces his freedom after escaping from prison, he is free but also redeemed. After spending 20 long years in prison for a crime he did not commit, he understands that the system is not going to offer him redemption so he must give himself that chance. Thus, his redemption is spiritual as he manages to start a new life in Mexico, also marking the end of Andy’s journey and putting an end to all of the hardships that he had to endure. His is thus liberated from the cycle of punishment by universe and destiny, I’d say.

Red also undergoes a kind of a redemption when he tells the parole board for the first time that he regrets his actions and feels guilty about the same. He is eventually let out and experiences what freedom feels like while he’s on his way to join Andy in Mexico—where the two friends reunite once again!

The Shawshank redemption is a story of hope, freedom, redemption and friendship. It’s a commentary on how the system under which convicts are punished is not designed for their betterment or should I say – redemption. Andy and Red saved each other. Red looked out for Andy in prison and Andy gave Red – HOPE.