Entertaining but still very much a piece of fiction

Rating: 3/10 (18 December 2007)

Watching this film made me think about the genre of "prison"-movies and what the theme really is in these stories. All of them seem to have some common elements; the warden is a psychopath, there is almost always some inmate that is out to get the protagonist in some way, there is the companionship and last but not least the portrayal of the human spirit that will not be broken in the direst of circumstances. And maybe that is what "shawshank" wants to tell us; that the strong individual can beat an unfair and cruel system by different means. In this story we have Andy Dufresne who is clever but also able to endure visits in "the hole" many times without developing psychiatric phenomena. In this sense I will claim that this movie is just as much a piece of fiction as lets say "starwars" is. It is simply not possible to stay sane if you are repeatably treated in a degrading manner and if you live in constant fear. The movie is highly entertaining but should not be seen as a serious attempt to explore human reactions in a prison environment where inmates are treated as garbage. Don't fool yourself on this account. Luke Skywalker is just as real as the character of Andy Dufresne is.
Regards Simon
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