According to me, there can not be a better movie to start the proceedings of this blog. The shawshank redemption is a truly delightful fable of hope, friendship, resilience, institutionalization and prison life. So let me take you to the beautiful ride of this movie.
INTRO
The Shawshank redemption is the movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank redemption. It is directed by Frank Darabont who has also directed and scripted many other critically acclaimed movies. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding. It came out in 1994 along with pulp fiction and Forrest gump. Though, it was not a box office hit but gradually it was accepted as one of the greatest movie ever made.
The Shawshank Redemption is undoubtedly a great classic. It engages you slowly and then delights you at end. The beauty of the movie lies in it being slow. Every scene, every character just fits into it amazingly. Acting by every character in the movie is amazing. The narration by Morgan freeman throughout the movie holds the viewer.
STORY (NO SPOILERS)
The movie mainly revolves around the life of Andy and Red. Andy, slowly adapts himself to prison life, makes friends with fellow prisoners and also a good relationship with Warden Norton. Andy is a character obsessed with hope and believes in keeping his mind occupied. On the other hand Red is a sort of character who has accepted his life in prison and takes hope as a negative influence. The events in the movie somehow lead to a change in his mindset of Red and at last he hopes for something in life.
THEME OF THE MOVIE
As I earlier mentioned, this is one the best movie I’ve ever seen. The main theme of movie is HOPE. This movie truly inspires you. Under any circumstances you must not give up, must keep trying, because there is always a hope. But this entire time you should not loose your calm. It’s similar to behaving like a duck, keeping calm outside but vigorous paddling inside. The movie clearly shows that if you have virtues like resilience, intelligence, determination, you are bound to succeed. Nothing can stop you. Movie also shows the value of a true friend. The bond of true friendship is hard to found but once found, you must not let it go.
Apart from these, movie depicts prison life really well. Prisoners do get institutionalized after spending long times in prison. They feel prison more comfortable inside then in outer, independent, world because they won’t have to make any decisions, when they are inside the prison.
SOME THOUGHT PROVOKING DIALOGUES
Well, the dialogues in the movie are just brilliant. It was a tough job to select a few of them but i had to select the best. So here they are - The best ones.
Red: "Get Busy Living, or Get Busy dying.. Thats goddamn right."
Andy: "Remember red, Hope is a good thing, may be the best and no good thing ever dies..I'll be hoping that this letter find you and finds you well."
Red: "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope to cross the border. I hope to see my friend. I hope the pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I HOPE"
Andy: "Yeah. The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook."
Red: "Some birds are not meant to be caged... Their feathers are just too bright.. and when they fly away..the part of you which knows, it was a sin to lock them up rejoice..yet the place you live, is much more drab and empty after they are gone.."
Red: "That kid's long gone. This old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. 'Rehabilitated?' That's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your forms, Sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit."
Red: "These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized."
Red: "In prison, a man will do anything to keep his mind occupied."
Andy: "There are places in this world that aren't made out of stone, and that there's something inside that they can't get to ,and that they can't touch. It's yours. ....Hope."
Red: "When they put you in that cell... and those bars slam home... that's when you know it's for real. A whole life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it."
Red: "Andy Dufresne - Who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side."
Brooks: "The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry."
Warden: "I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank."
Red: "... and for the briefest of moments -- every last man at Shawshank felt free."
Warden: "The man disappeared like a fart in the wind !"
Red: "Prison life consists of routine, and then more routine."
Warden & Andy: "Salvation lies within"
Red: "Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure and time. That, and a big god-damned poster"
Red: "Somethings are best left unsaid."
SYNOPSIS
In the end, i will just repeat that TSR is one of the best movie ever made. It has got fantastic blend of everything. Dialogues, acting, story, direction... everything about this movie rockzzz... I've seen it countless number of times and it still countinues to delight me.... I just love this movie.
Imdb Ranking: 9.2/10 (2nd rank in top 250).
My Ranking: 10/10
PS:- Do yourself a favour - Watch this movie.
