Director: Frank Darabont
Editor: Richard Francis-Bruce
Writer: Frank Darabont
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Cast:
Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding
Bob Gunton as Warden Norton
William Sadler as Heywood
James Whitmore as Librarian
Clancy Brown as Captain Hadley
Gil Bellows as Tommy
Genre: Crime, Drama
Time: 142 Minutes
"The Shawshank Redemption" is a movie all about time, thinking, patience and loyalty, and they grow on you during the subterranean progress of this story, which is about how two men serving life sentences in prison become friends and find a way to fight off despair.
In the movie, we can find the story is being narrated by Ellis Redding a.k.a 'Red'. In the movie, Red is the kind of guy who can get you whatever you want; whether it's someone's poster, cigarettes, candy, and the so the list goes on. Like other days, he and his fellow mates watch the busload of prisoners unload. Here comes the entry of Andy Dufresne; a tall, lanky guy upon whom Red bet his cigarettes because of his baby-like look in the woods. They made bets on who will cry during their first night in the prison. But surprisingly, Red lost the wager as Andy didn't cry.
Andy turns out to be a surprise to everyone in Shawshank because within him is such a powerful reservoir of determination and strength that nothing seems to break him. Andy was a banker on the outside, and he's in for murder. He's apparently innocent, and there are all sorts of details involving his case, but after a while, they take on a kind of unreality; all that counts inside prison is its own society. There are key moments in the film, as when Andy uses his clout to get some cold beers for his friends who are working on a roofing job. Or when he befriends the old prison librarian (James Whitmore). Or when he oversteps his boundaries and is thrown into solitary confinement. What quietly amazes everyone in the prison and me, too -- is the way he accepts the good and the bad as all part of some larger pattern than only he can fully see.
The partnership between the characters played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman is crucial to the way the story unfolds. This is not a "prison drama" in any conventional sense of the word. It is not about violence, riots or melodrama. The word "redemption" is in the title for a reason. The movie is based on a story, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King, which is quite unlike most of King's work. The horror here is not of the supernatural kind, but of the sort that flows from the realization than 10, 20, 30 years of a man's life have unreeled in the same unchanging daily prison routine.
The director, Frank Darabont, paints the prison in drab grays and shadows so that when key events do occur, they seem to have a life of their own. Andy, as played by Robbins, keeps his thoughts to himself. Red, as Freeman plays him, is, therefore, a crucial element in the story: His close observation of this man, down through the years, provides the way we monitor changes and track the measure of his influence on those around him. And all the time there is something else happening, hidden and secret, which is revealed only at the end.
The Shawshank Redemption, according to me, can be considered one among many of the greatest movies of the generation, next to Schindler's List, The Godfather, and the Pulp Fiction. It's not all a depressing film, rather a box of everything that might keep you on the edge of your seat. There is a lot of life and humor in it, and warmth in the friendship that builds up between Andy and Red. There is even drama, excitement and suspense, although not when we expect it. But mostly the film is an allegory about holding onto a sense of personal worth, despite everything. In the end, I can only say that this film basically portrays the sense of the leaden passage of time, before the glory of the final redemption.
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