The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Director: Frank Darabont

Writers: Stephen King (novel), Frank Darabont (screenplay)

Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore

Synopsis:

After the murder of his wife and her lover, Andy Dufrsene (Robbins) is sent to Shawshank Prison on two life sentences. While there he meets inmate Red (Freeman), who helps Andy keep his head above water for those first difficult years. Andy also catches the eye of Warden Norton (Gunton), who makes use of Andy's financial acumen. At first, he's used to help the guards and prison staff with their income tax, but later Norton drafts Andy into doing more nefarious work such as money laundering. Helping the Warden with his schemes offered Andy a certain amount of ease within the prison but he still seeks to prove his innocence. 

First Impressions:

I didn't see this one in theaters but, to be fair, no one really did. Like many movies of the era, I saw this one after a chance movie rental. I didn't think much of it at first, mostly because I was watching it with a large group of friends and couldn't really hear what was going on because everybody was just too noisy. I ended up seeing it again not too long later and really enjoyed it. This would've been during the period in my life where I was starting to become more interested in films and was broadening my horizons beyond just action films. It currently stands as one of my favorite films of all time, though I don't return to it as often as I should. Let's see how it holds up under a critical eye.

Story/Direction:

"Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Well, that quote above pretty much sums up the theme of the film. Hope and the resiliency of the human spirt. It's not about Andy's guilt or innocence, all of that is just a vessel to carry the point home that hope can hold person up through the worst of circumstances. It's interesting to me how often filmmakers and writers  use prison to illustrate this fact. In fact, Stephen King himself goes back to this well again in the fantastic The Green Mile. I guess that maybe prison is one of those things, like war, that is universally known to be terrible. I've long considered this film to be extremely uplifting and it's one I'll return to if I'm feeling particularly low.

As for the story itself, well it's about as close to perfect as one can get, I think. Director Frank Darabont starts things off with snippets of Andy's trial (mostly of his testimony) during the film's opening credits. I always thought this was a great idea it presents the audience with all the relevant background they need to understand the story going forward and gets the clunky exposition out of the way in a fairly un-clunky way. The opening is also ambiguous enough that the audience is unsure as to whether Andy is guilty or not. Once the film gets going, Darabont makes use of narration from Red to move the plot along and it's from his point of view that the story is actually told. While it's intended to be an uplifting film, Darabont didn't shy away from some of the horrors of prison life (beatings, assaults etc.) but he doesn't do so lightly and it's always displayed in shadows or off screen. This is a good move, I think, because to depict these things too graphically or to spend too much time on them would undermine the film's primary theme. 

It's not all doom and gloom, though, as much of the film's second act focuses on Andy's attempts to feel human in a completely inhumane environment. He forms friendships with his  fellow inmates, carves himself a chess set, improves the prison library, oh and he also makes the Warden oodles of dollars through a variety of extra-legal activities. It's these nefarious acts that eventually lead to Andy's salvation (I won't spoil it any further, though) and leads to a rollercoaster of a third act. All told, the film's story gets top marks from me. 

Acting/Characters:

The cast Darabont assembled for this film is aces, starting from the top down with co-leads Robbins and Freeman as Andy and Red, respectively. The friendship between the pair has got to be one of the best in cinema history. Right up there with Sam and Frodo or Riggs and Murtaugh. Robbins plays Andy as meek and somewhat detached and, in most movies, this wouldn't make for a very interesting character but somehow Robbins makes it work. Meanwhile, Freeman plays Red as someone who's accepted his lot in life. He's in prison and he thinks he'll never get out so he's just trying to make the best of his situation. The pair have a great chemistry which makes the friendship easy to believe. 

The rest of the cast is also fantastic. Highlights include William Sadler as the stuttering Heywood and Bob Gunton as the immoral Warden Norton. For me though, Clancy Brown steals the show as the sadistic Captain Hadley. As I said in my review of Highlander, Clancy Brown was born to play bad guys. The combination of his towering physical presence and his dark voice make Hadley one of the best bad guys in movie history.

Score/Music: 

Thomas Newman composed the score for the film which is top-notch. Since this is a relatively quiet film, as far as action on screen, the score floats in the background through most of the film but really swells up during the last act to great effect. The film also has music from the '40s, '50s and '60s tossed in to ensure that the audience feels immersed in what's happening on screen. Top marks for the music..

Final Verdict:

This is still one of my favorite films. How could it not be? It's consistently rated on, or near, the top of many critics' best films of all time list and for good reason. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. For all that's going on in the world, a little hope can go a long way.