Life in Shawshank

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2004)

The Shawshank Redemption is the 1994 movie about the banker named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins). Andy finds himself being accused of the murder of his cheating wife and her lover. After being convicted of both murders, Andy is sentenced to two life sentences at the dark Shawshank Penitentiary. He is mostly a quiet man and only talks to a few men in prison. Early on, Andy meets Ellis 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman). Red is the man in prison who can get things from the outside and knows how the prison runs. He may be a step above the inmates and a step below the guards, but deals with both to keep everyone satisfied. Throughout Andy's years in prison, he has many projects that he works on, starting on maybe the hardest--surviving. From the very beginning of his incarceration, Andy has to fight off the prison gang 'The Sisters' who try to isolate Andy so the can sexually have their way with him. After the leader is finally taken care of by the guards, Andy is left alone to work on other ventures. Andy decides to take up an old hobby and start carving rocks in chess pieces by using the rock hammer he received from Red. He is later given an office job of assistant librarian after doing taxes for the warden and all the prison guards. During these years, Andy writes to state legislators to get the prison money for a better library and helps many inmates receive a high school education. Andy soon finds out that the warden is corrupt and helps him launder money, but makes sure the warden doesn't find out about his plans that he is willing to carry out at the end of the movie. This is very dark movie and shows both the good and bad sides of living out a life sentence. The movie has a message about how some men become part of the prison and cannot live without it. It shows that people can get mentally attached to the worst the world has to offer.