brilliant film

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2005)

Director Frank Darabont's attention to detail and respect of each single sub-plot is crucial to the way in which the story is unravelled. Through a series of not quite complete shots and narration by Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman) a compassionate, compelling tale of woe is retold and lifted from the pages where it was first written down by Stephen King.
At the beginning of the film Darabont illustrates the trapped feeling of the new prisoners particularly well in a upwards vertical shot of stone walls encrusted with windows, cast in an eerie blue light as they appear to be closing in on the prisoner who happens to be passing through the doorway. There seems to be no escape now.
A feeling of indifference upon Andy's part is created at the beginning also, using shots of many prisoners through a wire mesh fence, taunting and jeering at Andy, combined with wide shots to represent Andy's calm overview are shown, the fact that they are shot through the fence representing that Andy does not belong there. However a later shot, in which a close up on Andy zooms out to show hundreds of other prisoners, illustrates the fact that Andy has blended in and is now just another crook at Shawshank.
However there remains to be something special about this crook, as is illustrated during many shots, an example of which is when Andy is standing in the dark foreground, with a group of convicts in the background, it shows that he is separate, in his own world, a world of imagination, freedom. justice and hope. The feelings of freedom and hope are particularly well shown, using symbolism, music and voice over narration