The Shawshank Redemption

In 50 years when another young film geek is attempting a do it yourself film school by viewing older classics, The Shawshank Redemption will without a doubt be on his or her list. It is a modern classic that is just now coming out of the shadows of Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump which were released at the same time. The story is inspiring without being manipulative and the whole cast inhabits their characters as real people, the “bad” guys are at times like able and the “good” guys are in no way saints. Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne as a man who refuses to become an imprisoned man even when imprisoned. He maintains his dignity and courage in situations that would make most men give up. Morgan Freeman is Red, Andy’s closest friend and the prison’s Sears and Roebuck as he describes himself. He is a man who seems to have mastered prison life until Andy comes along and surprises him. The film hinges on their friendship and they both come to depend on each other within prison for sanity. My favorite performance in the film is Bob Gunton as the warden. Rather than play this character as a clichéd heartless bastard, he instead presents himself as a sheep, seemingly well intentioned and reform minded. Only as time progresses, do we see the wolf beneath and learn that he is addicted to the power of being warden. He will stop at nothing to maintain his royal status, using the prisoners as slaves and a means of monetary gain. I usually don’t enjoy happy endings in movies because they often feel forced or fake. This is a rare exception, however, because Andy and Red are truly redeemed at the end and morally deserve the severance they receive just as much as the Warden deserves the ending he gets. I love that Morgan Freeman was cast as Red, originally written as a white Irish character. This example of color blind casting is rare in Hollywood and unfortunately only seems to occur with a few actors, Freeman primarily. The only cliché I felt the film didn’t transcend was having the prisoners be the heroes and the warden and guards as the villains. I would love to see a prison film that features the prisoners as the bad guys and the staff as decent people.