The Greatest Film of All Time.

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2006)

I wrote my first review of this movie back in 2006. I feel I did not do it the justice it deserved.
I grew up in Mansfield, OH, not very far at all from the Ohio State Reformatory. The old "castle Dracula" Administration building is all that is left now. A new prison (Mansfield Correctional Institution) was built on the site where the other buildings existed along OH-13. I remember the impending demolition just waiting for this movie to finish filming...
...Thank God it waited! The story begins in 1946 when Portland banker Andy Dufresne is tried for and wrongfully convicted of the double murder of his wife and her "lover".
Andy arrives at Shawshank state prison in early 1947 and is greeted harshly by ruthless authority and by thugs who seem to enjoy beating him up. Andy keeps strong and keeps very much to himself for the first two years.
Andy finally decides he needs a hobby to keep his mind occupied. He approaches the well known prison entrepenour, "Red", and asks if Red might smuggle something into the prison for him... This kick starts the relationship between Red and Andy that the movie centers its attention on.
There is a gentle tug of war between the two regarding ideals. Red, guilty of murder and sentenced to life with parole, sees no hope in existence outside of the prison walls. He tries, throughout the film, to convey to Andy that "hope can drive a man insane" and its best to just accept your fate. Opposites must attract because Andy was Red's polar opposite and it began to catch Red's attention. Andy would confront the police guard to ask for beers for his friends. He'd play music over the Shawshank PA system from the Warden's office. He'd write the state once or twice a week for years and years to get funds for a new library. Andy Dufresne dared to dream and he turned the negativity of Shawshank on its head...and just may have changed Red's view on things.
The villain in the movie is Warden Norton. The Warden notices Andy's skills and intelligence early on and took full advantage. He entices Andy to be sort of an "administrative assistant". He started out in doing tax returns for the guards, which he was very good at. In time, the Warden enticed him to use his banking skills to mastermind a money laundering scheme that would make the Warden "a millionaire when he retires". Andy had to "go to prison to be a crook". This kept his mind occupied.
About 2/3 the way through the film, a young kid is admitted to Shawshank who knows who killed Andy's wife 19 years before. Andy is ecstatic and he takes the news to the Warden. At risk of the money laundering scandel being brought to light, the Warden ensures Andy he's not leaving Shawshank. Andy gets two months in the hole. The young kid gets shot.
Andy, the beacon of hope for this movie, decides HE WILL get out. And HE WILL get his freedom.
We go back to Andy's first meeting with Red 19 years before the escape...the little chess piece chiseling 6" rock hammer that he asked for... He'd been chipping away at the concrete wall in his room for 19 years and NOBODY SAW IT COMING.
Andy busts out of that stinkin place, crawls through a 500 yard sanitary line and "comes out clean on the other side". Andy is gone and is free like a bird.
Red, with his inspirational friend gone, does begin to lose that hope that Andy almost convinced him of. Life at the prison begins to suck. Red, after 40 years, gets paroled. He has no idea how to adapt on the outside. He might just commit suicide.
Only one thing stops him...a promise he made to Andy... Determined, Red puts on his hat and suit, clamps his travel case shut. Give busy livin, or get busy dyin...thats god damn right. He bolts town and meets up with Andy on the beach in Mexico. Red, once a young crook, now redeemed old man.