The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review is a detailed look into the renowned classic The Shawshank Redemption; where two convicts form a friendship over the course of several years as they seek consolation and eventually find redemption through basic compassion.
Read The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review to have a better understanding of this fascinating movie which has been lauded as a classic highly rated movie loved by many.
- Director: Frank Darabont
- Writers: Stephen King, and Frank Darabont
- Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown and others
- Genres: Drama
The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review Of the Plot
The Shawshank Redemption movie's plot is taken from Stephen King's Novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption". The movie begins with the story of a banker Andy Dufresne who has been sentenced to life in the Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, even while he claims to be innocent.
Time passes and as two decades pass he gets to befriend a fellow prisoner named Ellis 'Red' Redding over the years. Red is a contraband smuggler. On the other hand, Andy becomes a valuable help in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton.
The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review Of The Themes
The Shawshank Redemption is a movie that has many themes that will keep you thinking about the movie for a very long time. These themes are entangled with one another in a way that makes this movie what it is. So, learning about these themes will surely help one in finding the specialties of this movie in a way completely different than not knowing.
Hope is one of the major themes in this movie. The drives that the inmates at Shawshank have are all filled with hope and the will to live is connected very largely with it. The main character Andy can be showing the power of Hope as even in such a dire situation he did not lose his self-worth that keeps him from succumbing to the bleakness of prison.
Another big theme of the movie is Friendship. Both Andy and Red are central elements of the movie and their friendship is just as important. Their relationship gives emotional support and helps them endure the life-long sentences they have been given.
Lies and Deceit are themes that are also prominently displayed in the movie. This theme not only pops out from the corrupt practices in the prison but also in Andy's own actions as he hides his plan to escape.
Andy's patience and his willpower are the keys to his survival and eventual escape. One could only say that his perseverance is a testament to Human resilience that does not bow down to anything.
The whole movie presents to us just how strong the power of dreams, hopes and plans can be, these same three themes are what kept Andy going and are what ultimately helped him to escape.
Of course, since the Movie is based on prison there has to be an exploration of sin among the characters leading their life in the prison and the moral complexities of Prison life.
The movie features the psychological impact of imprisonment and the struggle of the characters who try to maintain their own self-identity even in the isolation of prison and its effect of Dehumanization.
Of course, we can't miss the Theme of Redemption. The movie title explains half of it but in full one can say that the theme of redemption truly stands out. All the experiences in Shawshank that the central characters have made them want redemption. It helps them find their sense of redemption and a chance to start anew.
The movie has a variety of themes that are important to the story itself, like the Fear of the Unknown. Prisoners who have been living in prison for years have lost a lot of their sanity they are institutionalized and fear the uncertainty of the outside world so they never think of going out of line, very soon, Prison becomes their world and there is nothing outside.
In a way, all these themes coming together make this a movie that is not only in-depth but also filled with richness as a piece of literature and is a timeless classic.
A Personal Look Through The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review
This section of The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review displays you one's own opinion of the Shawshank Redemption. This is a movie that is one of a kind. It is deep, it will keep you thinking, it will move you and finally, it will take place in your mind maybe as long as you live.
Shawshank Redemption is not a fiery type of movie, rather it is a movie that is toned down, there are many events in prison life movies that not many might have liked probably the reason why it had not done when at its reception at first.
In any case, Andy the main character is the most mysterious character in the movie. We see the start of the movie as the court is passing a verdict on him for murdering his wife and her lover. From then the movie changes perspective and we see Redding. The movie is narrated by him from there and rather than getting to know the main character, as the movie goes on he gets more and more mysterious.
The Perspective we see from Red's narrative lets us look at all the characters in the movie in a way that gives us a broader perspective, to the point that even as a main character, we can see the movie giving Andy his own space too especially when he is faced with prison violence and goes through a particularly hard time. It is these aspects of the movie that make it special.
