“Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free”.

A Movie Review

Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. This is the central theme of this 1994
prison drama. Frank Darabont directed ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is a story where hope
wins against rigid pessimistic walls of a prison and the desire for liberation survives to life
against all kinds of beating odds.

The Shawshank prison is seen as a place that’s kept too brutal and horror in its services and
treatment towards prison inmates or ‘fellas’ as prisoners call themselves, that are however
masked under the term ‘discipline’ by the prison captain Hedley played beautifully and
authoritatively by Clancy brown and the prison warden Samuel Norton, portrayed by the
American actor Bob Gunton. It shows that it takes an array of hard prison routines from
talking to asking permissions to go to bathroom every time, for an ordinary culprit to even
survive a breadth here. And the routine often include living in a matchbox hole for weeks
besides regular vocal tortures.

The film Starr Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Academy winner Morgan Freeman as
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, the fixer- who is known to locate certain things of the outside
world inside the tall and inescapable prison walls from time to time.

Plot and the acting: The plot of the film revolves around a banker, Andy Dufresne, who is
wrongly convicted of murdering both his wife and her lover and is sent to a notoriously harsh
Shawshank Prison. Over the initial years of his imprisonment, Dufresne works in the prison
laundry service, and is dogged by threats and harassment. Andy's former life as a banker and
his knowledge of accounting and income taxes makes him popular among prison guards who
settled their financial queries through him.

The warden has an image that’s kept sarcastically incontrovertible and professional in some
understandable meanings. No one can question him, but follow. Prisoners, captains and
guards alike pay an unaltered respect to him while all hide their personal fears of facing him.
He soon capitalises on Dufresne's ability and deduces a program to put prison inmates to
work for local contracts in construction. He employs Dufresne corruptly to hide his
embezzled funds, who does this by creating an alternate fraudulent identity.

However, having being instrumental in the changing the atmosphere of the prison by setting
up a library and helping fellow inmates complete their graduation, Dufresne scripted a prison
escape for himself. Following the events that led to his departure, it becomes clear that Andy
Dufresne escaped the prison having tunnelled through the walls with the rock hammer given
to him shortly after his arrival by his friend Red. Having chronicled the corruption within the
prison, he sends his notes to a local newspaper, and walks away with Norton's fortunes,
dressed as the man 'with the bank accounts'.

This part of the movie reflects a very strong message to the youth community of today. No
matter where you are, infact you can never be at a place worse than the prison shown, you
can always add wings to your unshared dreams. What all is required is to believe in the
possibilities of unexpected amid disdain hopes and all harsh circumstances. Work and believe
is the true salvation.

Camera angles: The plot of the movie slowly evolves and it has been given great attention
from the director. The cinematography of the movie is grand and impressive. The camera
angles at which the prison shots have been taken show the sheer magnitude of the daunting,
Shawshank Prison life.

Background score: The Movie runs in a light but a distinctively clear background score,
right from the start. The best background score is felt when Andy finally escaped out of the
prison walls after crawling to a 500 yards of shit, to come out clean and free. But what
dominates the score and effects is the impetus narration throughout that reveals meanings of
every act and conversation going on in a sense that reflects some kind of messages every time
they are made.

Plot and Act: The acting in the movie has been world class. Morgan Freeman has proved his
mettle once again and the maturity shown by Tim Robbins in his character is unmatched. The
whole plot of the movie rotate around categorical conversation and clear thoughts of Morgan
who suppose ‘he’ll never be able to come out of it’ and Dufresne’s will and hope to see the
blue pacific one day as a free man.

The movie also gradually saw a small community of friends developing inside the prison who
share everything other than their deep buried desires to one day face the parole board and
come out liberated. A late but appealable appearance of James Whitmore as Brookes Hatlen
gives more subtle meanings to the story of prisoners.

It is based on the novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film is an
example that not every movie needs to be a box office hit to make it to an all time best
gallery. Although at the time of its release it was overshadowed by the success of ‘Forrest
Gump’ it slowly proved its worth. After having seven academy nominations it failed to won
even a single award only later to be known as the best all time movie ever.
The movie highlights the strength of hope and belief. The protagonist of the movie, the
banker, shows how the skills of your trade help you in trying circumstances. Although in jail
and in boundations once will power can set him free.

The real audacities of the movie:

• Andy proved what’s once said to him by the warden when the Warden handed his
Bible to him that ‘Salvation lies within’. Andy always kept the rock hammer by which
he has made his way to tunnel through the wall to escape inside the bible, a turn that
brings the movie right to the place from where it started, and gave all the dialogues
and acts, a more than perfect conclusion.
• Brooks Hatlen’s last days of life figure out the minute and bitter complexities of an
old age that is destined to live in some kind of fears even after getting out of the
prison. He commits suicide in a place that’s to be occupied by Red, in the later part,
only to prove what Andy once said to him “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set
you free. They both meet in the world, outside the walls, in the middle of an island
surrounded by the blue Pacific ocean, as Andy once hoped of.

Some Best Shots:

• Andy Escape scene,

• A scene when Andy managed to buy icy cold bear for his growing friends in lieu of
some will-assistance to the guard.
• Brooks Hatlen journey, from his successful Parole to his suicide.
• Morgan’s discovery of Hope in the last, beneath the shadows of a tree.

But the one thing which makes THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION stand above all other
films is the attention given to the story. The film depends on the story and the way in which it
unravels. The twists were unexpected, although this film had a familiar feel, it wasn't even
slightly pretentious or clichéd, it was original. It's a powerful, poignant, thought-provoking
and a challenging film like no other. If I was to comment on this film, I would not bash an
eyelid in saying "Get busy watching this film, or get busy dying.”