Inspiration for Life

Rating: 9/10 (15 December 2016)

Phillip Fawcett piano teacher says this is the greatest redemption movie of them all. And I should know, since the music world was a life I'm only too delighted to be out of. Strictly speaking, Shawshank is not 'redemption', because after all what did the guy need redeeming 'from'? He was innocent. It is basically a giant metaphor for a journey from an entrapped and miserable existence to a beautiful promised land. It is set as a prison story, but really symbolizes any arena of life where one may feel hopeless and desperate to get out of a seemingly impossible situation.
Beautifully written with a host of engaging characters, where for once the good are equally as interesting as the bad. I always find it curious that in many prison dramas when the guards, especially the warden, are the bad guys whereas the inmates (criminals, we assume) are the good. At least the protagonists are. Take Escape from Alcatraz as another example. I wonder what this says about our society and the concept of good and evil we have deep down? I believe it's a closet hatred of authority in general. A fear of the state, perhaps. With good reason.