My all time favorite film

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2012)

This film is about hope, friendship and redemption. It has solid performances from Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins and Bob Gunton (the warden). Freeman masterfully narrates and he is the life blood of this film. You experience everything through him; friendship, despair, hope, redemption and happiness. The musical score is nothing short of fantastic and really elevates some of the more moving scenes in the film.
Firstly, this film is about hope. Andy is wrongly accused of murder and is sent to Shawshank prison. He has no friends and is quickly picked on at arrival because of his quiet, unassuming nature. But as time passes, the other inmates begin to respect Andy because he doesn't allow prison to break him. Andy perseverance is so strong that it begins to rub off on the others. I think to really get this film, you need to step away from the context of it just being a prison movie. You could say the prison is life. The warden and the guards are problems, trials and troubles in life that can test and possible break you.No matter how bad things yet, no matter what brutal things you have to endure, you've gotta hold out hope, you gotta hang on, you have to believe you're gonna get through it. This is about the very nature of the human spirit, told in a very simple, straight forward way.
This film is also about the power of friendship. I think Hollywood seems to have a hard time portraying a meaningful, male friendship and just resorts to endless buddy and stoner movies. Shawshank does a great job of this. I felt this aspect of the film was told in 2 parallel stories. The first was the old librarian, Brooks. When he was released, he struggled to adapt to the new world. As Red says, he had become institutionalized so much so that without Shawshank he felt alone, afraid and had no purpose. In the end, it was just too much for him to bear. Easily one of the more heartbreaking scenes in the film, gets me every time. When Red is released, he faces the exact same challenges that Brooks did. And he too struggled and almost lost hope. The only thing that kept him him going, was his friendship with Andy. As Freeman narrates:
"There's a harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside. All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole, so maybe they'd send me back. Terrible thing, to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won't have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy."
It was literally the only thing he felt worth living for and a key part of the film I think people forget. And before Andy left prison, you could see how it deeply affected Red. He had lost his friend and the heartbreak of it was written all over Freeman's face, fantastic acting if you ask me; it was subtle, quiet suffering.
And finally the film is about Redemption. Some people feel the redemption is Andy's. But I believe that Andy was just the agent of Red's redemption. At the start of the film Red was pretty much redesigned to life in prison. He had accepted that these were just the cards he was dealt and there was no real reason to feel otherwise; he had given up hope. The first few times he went for his parole hearing, Red was just going through the motions, he was just saying what he thought he had to get to be let out. It was completely insincere.
You can see an the film progresses Andy changing Red. There's a great scene where Red mentions that he used to play the harmonica. Andy gets him one as a present and later, in a small but important scene, Red picks up the Harmonica and he quietly plays a note. For me this is where Red begins to believe again. But the key scene for me is the last parole hearing. Red has been so affected by Andy, that for the first time he has a genuine moment of repentance, where he honestly admits to his crime:
"There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a bleep."
It really is just an incredible, moving scene, one of my all time favorites. Red is completely broken and regretful, it's nothing short of movie magic. And the ending? Well, let's just say it leaves me with a smile on my face. In my opinion this is the greatest film ever made. An incredibly powerful, uplifting story. If you haven't seen this, you need to.
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