A story of hope is just about the last thing you’d expect to find in a prison movie. But in The Shawshank Redemption, that’s exactly what you get. Shawshank is the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a man convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and shipped to a maximum-security prison in Shawshank, Maine, for two consecutive life sentences. Over the next years (two hours, movie time), he finds his way to inner peace and self-reliance in the midst of the terror and inequity of the prison system. It’s also one of those movies that is a work of both art and magic.
It paints the picture of a man who will not relinquish the only thing that cannot be taken from him by external forces: hope. And yet, like Andy, you are completely enveloped by Shawshank. From the first shot of the prison — an utterly gothic structure that assaults you with a sense of foreboding — you get a sense of how grim life inside must be. You experience a prison life composed of routine and debasement. The performances in Shawshank are top notch, and the commentary upon the justice system is both thoughtful and thought-provoking.
But it’s not a perfect movie. Shawshank’s script falls short at times — I suppose such happens when using a Stephen King novella as the source for a serious movie. AndShawshank’s characters are, to a certain extent, just well-formulated cliches. There’s Red (Morgan Freeman), the convict who knows how to “get things,” who actually says at one point, “I suppose there’s a convict like me in every prison. ” Andy is the stereotype of the innocent man doing time for a crime he did not commit. The story is basically predictable.
The dialogue has a propensity to get preachy. Despite these flaws, The Shawshank Redemption is a film with remarkable staying power. It sustains its suspense and tension throughout; its remarkably hopeful story is thoroughly engrossing. In the end of it all, Andy will escape Shawshank. You will escape Shawshank. But you will not escape The Shawshank Redemption. The new special edition DVD includes commentary from director Frank Darabont, two making-of documentaries, and a spoof of the film called The Sharktank Redemption, among other goodies.
