Get busy living get busy dying!

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2005)

The Shawkshank Redemption's - Review Get busy living get busy dying! Is merely one of the many great messages this 1994 masterpiece has to offer. Originally written as a short story by Stephen King 'The Shawkshank Redemption' has come to be one of the greatest movies of all time being nominated for 7 Oscars, and winning 11 various other awards. Directed by Frank Darabont it stars Tim Robbins as 'Andy Dufresne' and Morgan Freeman as 'Red'. This earlier 19th century film is delivered to its audience directly through the eyes of 'Red' giving us a strong one mined impersonation of the prison and the people who make up its walls.
The life that Andy once had drastically changed when he is charged guilty for the murder of his wife and her lover. Made to serve 2 life sentences Andy soon got to grips with his new surroundings. But one day he pushes aside all moral judgement on one decision that almost as him killed but his heroism and sheer courage gains him respect from other inmates at which point he slowly becomes good friends with 'Red' the man who can get you things. With 'Hope' on his side Andy goes on to do great things! The movie rests deeply on the persona built up around Andy. To some respect the filmmakers regarded him as a religious symbol and used brief yet powerful references to reflect on this. He would take up massive challenges helping out the majority all so that I could simply create a sense of freedom or retained hope in his life. He conveys a particular demeanour that people tend to associate with 'Christ' and as 'red' quite rightly says, "He strolled. Like a man in a park without a care or worry".
'Character Development' is a complete different term altogether in this movie, taking us as far into the unknown. Darabont encouraged something different, with twists and turns in the story we are continually struck with new surprises. By pushing boundaries of modern day cinema, Darabont exercised in presenting us with new, interesting but most importantly feel-good and exiting Characters. This would have never been possible without the powerful and striking performances from both 'Tim Robbins' and 'Morgan Freeman', as individuals they play there separate roles with a convincing harmony. But as a pair they pitch together as if you were husband and wife, the acting is flawless there chemistry works in perfect balance and there absolute ability to grasp the audience in continuous narrative is something that is rarely witnessed in a movie.
While the characters are unbelievably amazing and the script is excellent, it's the extraordinary way this movie uses cinematography to give us a hardened view into the reality of this film. Thick walls, large inescapable fences, and confined spaces all remind us of this place we have been brought to. This is spanned onwards with the common use of relentless Guards marching and the heavy cell bars slamming open and shut. In a way reinforcing the dull existence these men have to live with. This is all backed by outstanding crane and helicopter shots from the Coen Brother arguably some of the best camera work to date, the lighting brought not only outstanding quality from the work but it helped to create meaning and build layers deep into the story. Finally the editing was set at a perfect pace and even with regular leaps into future the team manages to maintain a high standard from beginning to end.
It is considered as a feel-good classic. But in hindsight thoughts four walls hold a more grime, corrupt and depressing existences. But it is the exultance of Writer/Director Frank Darabont who unlike most directors forces on the real human issues head on, dealing the problems of male rape, assault, murder, and abuse in a very effective way. But by encouraging more enthuses on the strong emotional relationships created between you and the characters Darabont was able to stray audiences away from this harsh reality into uplifting portrayals of Andy and his great achievements.
Its quite amazing to think how such a great movie would fail to make an impact on the big screen and would only pick up fame after it was realised to video in 1995. But its success was well received and people soon began to understand what they had been missing. But its only now 10 years on that we begin to see how its success continues to be harvested and filtered through into many modern day movies.
My Personal Rating for this Movie 9/10