Great film

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2013)

The Shawshank Redemption The Shawshank redemption is a film that takes place in the 1940s. Andy Dufresne, which is played by Tim Robins, is a known banker located in Maine. He was sent to prison with two life sentences, for the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy Dufrense maintains his innocence throughout the film. Andy serves as the main character for the film. Ellis Redding, which is played by Morgan Freeman and goes by the nickname red, is known as the go to guy. When Andy arrives to the prison, Red places a bet with the other inmates that Andy would be the one to break down first, out of all the inmates that arrived with Andy on the bus. Andy gains knowledge of Red's capability to obtain contraband and approaches with an order. From then on, Andy and Red become inseparable for the duration of the film. There are many themes employed in the film, but I believe the most significant theme is "hope". Andy continues to maintain his innocence even after his conviction and hopes he will one day be released. Red and Andy talk about future plans that they hope will one day come true, once they are released from prison. Andy begins working in the laundry room and is seen as fresh meat to a group known as the sisters. The sisters are a known group of inmates that pick out weak inmates to abuse and rape. The sisters begin to rape and beat Andy shortly after they encounter the opportunity. The abuse and rape continues on for several years, until Andy gets picked to repair the prisons roof. This gave Andy a sigh of hope that there is an escape path. He was able to escape the abuse that he endured from the sisters, so he believed he would be able to escape prison all together. The lighting in the film establishes great lighting effects. The director utilizes low-key lighting for the scenes in the prison. The low-key lighting creates a gloomy dreadful feel to the scenes. This lighting was chosen by the director to give the prison scenes an intense dramatic feel. High-key lighting was utilized for the outdoor scenes, which employed a feeling of happiness and hope. This intrigued Andy to want to escape prison and helped him make a final decision, which was to escape prison once his tunnel was finished. Hope kept Andy going and kept him striving to survive. Even when he endured the most severe hardships, he never lost hope to one day escape his pain. Overall the film was a magnificent production. The movie received several Academy awards including, American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases and Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film. The film did not receive much profit while in theaters, but has received promising reviews from critics.