Great Movie

Rating: 10/10 (17 November 2016)

The Shawshank Redemption follows Andy Dufresne, a banker accused of the murder of his wife and her lover. In prison, he meets an inmate Ellis "Red" Redding, who Dufresne befriends. Redding is the narrator of the movie talking about his past experience at Shawshank. Over the 19 year period that the movie takes place, Red and Dufresne grow closer, and the tale follows tragic losses of friends, corruption of the prison's staff, and a great escape.
This movie is a great movie for those who like a 'justice served' type movie as well as a well written one. In general, foreshadowing indicates that the story is well written enough to the point where the writers can make a reference to the future about what is going to happen. In one scene, Dufresne is carving names into the walls in his cell block. The scene then shifts to Dufresne asking Red if he can acquire a poster (because Red is the guy who can 'get things' in prison). Throughout the entire movie, every scene in Dufresnes cell shows that poster. At the end of the movie it is revealed that the poster hanging on the wall was used to cover a hole that Dufresne had been digging since the night he was carving the names in the wall. He accidentally discovered how flimsy the walls were, and realized he could tunnel out. This makes the movie good because the scenes leading up to the end hinted at the fact that there was something special about the poster, however the audience was never sure. When it was revealed at the end, the audience can make the connection between that night he asked for the poster and the scene where the hole is discovered. Andy Dufresne is accused of murdering his wife and her lover, however it is never actually revealed if he did it or not. The movie goes along hinting that Dufresne is innocent and although it is never confirmed, I found myself trusting the fact that he did not do it. Throughout the movie, Dufresne is treated very poorly, such as being used to launder money for the prison due to his banking background. So when news comes in of a new inmate who confessed to Dufresne crime, Dufresne tries to convince the Warden that he is innocent and demands a retrial or probation. The Warden denies him but at a cost; Dufresne escapes and reveals the corruption at Shawshank causing the Warden to commit suicide to avoid arrest. In general, people who pity Dufresne in his position would feel that he won in the end, escaping the prison and revealing the warden's corruption. This is enjoyable because it has a sense of karma, where because the warden treated Dufresne so poorly, he got fooled in the end. Therefore, this movie is a good movie for people who enjoy social justice type movies, because Dufresne beat the Warden and escaped the prison, as well as for people who enjoy deep movies, that are well written, as demonstrated through the foreshadowing that the writers put into it.