opinion

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 2016)

Parents need to know that The Shawshank Redemption is an Oscar-nominated 1994 movie based on a Stephen King story about a man sent to a maximum security prison in Maine in the 1950s who shows the other inmates perseverance and provides a sense of hope and optimism in the bleakest of places and under the most difficult of circumstances. The gritty world of Shawshank Prison is populated with sadistic guards, a corrupt warden, and predatory fellow inmates. Prison rape, while not graphically shown, is very strongly implied, with references and body positions suggesting forced anal and oral sex. Guards beat and kill an inmate. A prisoner is shot and killed by a man with a rifle. There is also a scene in which a character crawls through 500 yards of a sewer pipe filled with excrement. There is also frequent profanity, including "f--k" and its variations. However, the film also shows inmates forming a loving community of friendship and support despite oppressive conditions and a sense of maintaining perseverance and hope in the darkest of hours.