Movie : The Shawshank Redemption ( 1994 )

Directed by Frank Darabont and Produced by Niki Marvin, this is considered as one of the best of all times. (IMDB ratings = 9.3)

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama. It starred Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

The story tells us the tale of a HOTSHOT Banker sentenced to serve a double life sentence for murder,his time in prison,making friends and enemies in prison and an unbelievable escape.

If any of you guys have not seen this all time best movie then below is the link for its trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB3S9bIaco


I am not from the time this movie was released but we found that this movie was a box office disappointment. { God !! the people back then.}
But it received many oscar nomination ( 7 ).


The Plot ( for the unknown masses ): In 1947 Portland, Maine, banker Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the fictional Shawshank State Penitentiary in rural Maine. Andy befriends prison contraband smuggler, Ellis "Red" Redding, an inmate serving a life sentence. Red procures a rock hammer and later a large poster of Rita Hayworth for Andy. Working in the prison laundry, Andy is regularly assaulted by the "bull queer" gang "the Sisters" and their leader, Bogs.

In 1949, Andy overhears the brutal captain of the guards, Byron Hadley, complaining about being taxed on an inheritance, and offers to help him legally shelter the money. After a vicious assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Hadley beats Bogs severely. Bogs is sent to another prison and Andy is never attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton meets Andy and reassigns him to the prison library to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. Andy's new job is a pretext for him to begin managing financial matters for the prison employees. As time passes, the Warden begins using Andy to handle matters for a variety of people including guards from other prisons and the warden himself. Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state government for funds to improve the decaying library.

In 1954, Brooks is paroled, but cannot adjust to the outside world after fifty years in prison and hangs himself. Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro. He plays an excerpt over the public address system, resulting in him receiving solitary confinement. After his release from solitary Andy explains that hope is what gets him through his time, a concept that Red dismisses. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money using the alias Randall Stephens.

In 1965, Tommy Williams is incarcerated for burglary. He joins Andy's and Red's circle of friends, and Andy helps him pass his G.E.D.exam. In 1966, Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that an inmate at another prison claimed responsibility for the murders Andy was convicted of, implying Andy's innocence. Andy approaches Norton with this information, but the warden refuses to listen and sends Andy back to solitary when he mentions the money laundering. Norton then has Hadley murder Tommy under the guise of an escape attempt. Andy refuses to continue the money laundering, but relents after Norton threatens to burn the library, remove Andy's protection from the guards, and move him out of his cell into worse conditions. Andy is released from solitary confinement after two months and tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town. Red feels Andy is being unrealistic, but promises Andy that if he is ever released he will visit a specific hayfield near Buxton, Maine and retrieve a package Andy buried there. Red becomes worried about Andy's state of mind, especially when he learns Andy asked another inmate to supply him with six feet of rope.

The next day at roll call the guards find Andy's cell empty. An irate Norton throws a rock at the poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the wall, and the rock tears through the poster. Removing the poster, the warden discovers a tunnel that Andy dug with his rock hammer over the last seventeen years, hidden by posters of starlets Andy acquired from Red over the years. The previous night, Andy escaped through the tunnel and used the prison's sewage pipe to reach freedom, bringing with him Norton's suit, shoes, and the ledger containing details of the money laundering. While guards search for him the following morning, Andy poses as Randall Stephens and visits several banks to withdraw the laundered money. Finally, he mails the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. The police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.

After serving forty years, Red is finally paroled. He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears he never will. Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter asking him to come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border to Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope. On a beach in Zihuatanejo, he finds Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited.

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For the ones who have yet not watched this movie ( REALLY ) , we liked this movie because of the way this movie was narrated. Mr. Freeman narrated the entire movie in a way which kept us intact to it. His voice and the acting , the change of scenes and real life like incidents were too good to be disliked by anyone. This movie not just requires your attention but also your patients. During some scenes one may feel that it may be like any other story but as it takes a twist it gives you some life like feel. A feel as if something of the same type has happen to us. If we are to give the Moral of the movie if asked , among others we would say it is TO NEVER LOSE HOPE.

Some parts of the movie which will always come to our minds when we hear THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION  --------

1. The scene were the new inmates arrives at Shawshank - - 

                                    When the new inmates arrive the old ones calls them NEW FISH . ( giving to the prison environment it fits in ). Betting on the ones who would give up first and start crying gives that scene a real life feel. A feel as if we are in college and we bet upon who would win the race. Now the fatty guy gave up first and received a beating which took his life. point to be remembered  : in the infirmary there are no doctors at night. That may have been one of the points that gives us the reason why the inmates of Shawshank wanted the fatty guy to be quite in front of the Captain.

2. The currency for the prisoners is Cigarettes. In almost all the scenes prisoners were shown exchanging favours or things for cigarettes. Smoking kills but in Shawshank cigarette saves. 

3. Did anyone come to you !! Did anyone get to you yet.!!

                                      Now this is the part when we really felt awkward. Boggs trying to get Andy. Apart from the warden and the guards Boggs was Andy's problem in Shawshank. Believe my words Boggs and the sisters might had been the problems of all the inmates of Shawshank. Freeman's Character ''Red'' described the character of ''Boggs'' right - For being homosexual you need to be Human, The sisters they don't even pass to be humans.

4. Story of Brooks. 

                  Brooks was the Shawshank Library keeper. Served almost 50 years of his lifetime in Shawshank he was paroled. Now a guy who lives this long in prison almost makes prison his home. He was cut from the outside world for so long that adjusting to the free world wasn't even possible for him , and at last he gave up. The letter written describes the time gap real well in the movie. Brooks in his letter says he saw a motorcar once he was small, and when he got out its everywhere. Now this can give us an idea as to how that character might have felt on getting out of prison after so long. How a real man would have felt.

5. When a man has all that time in life he needs to invest it in some project.

                Now that is something we all should follow. If we have time we should invest it. And by that we mean in something good, maybe for the society. Andy invested his time making a tunnel through the wall,building a library,money laundering for the warden, trying to get the convicts to study. Now that is something done 20 years of time in prison. 

6. The escape.

                     Now in the darkness of night a prisoner escapes from a prison, whose wall is as thick as anyone has seen. No one saw him escape, no one heard a thing. No one got to know about it. He was there at the nightly roll calls and in the morning he disappears in wind. Now digging that hole in the wall , preparing for the escape would not have been easy for any one. Especially crawling through that wastage pipe, almost the length of many football fields , we don't even want to imagine it for us. God knows how Tim Robbins felt while filming the scene. We hope he did it in one Take.

Faults : Although the movie is highly praised and considered as one of the best but still we found a few things we consider to be faults.

1. In Shawshank the prisoners had the same cell. No matter how long their sentence is. Well there must be a rotation kinda thing or maybe repairs done or at least a paintjob. None in the movie.If it happened how come no one found the hole in the wall, the poster of sexy women could not save inspection all this years. If that's something that happens in prison for real , we might consider the thickness of our doors for mad escaped prisoners.

2. How on earth Andy came to know that their would be a storm the night of his escape. How come he steals wardens clothes and shoes without knowing about the storm. But how come he knew for definite that the storm was coming for sure.

3.A pale Andy fitted fine in the wardens clothes. And no one noticed those shining shoes. And clothes was fine even when he went to those banks.

4. Now the news of Andy's escaped reached the warden the next morning. And he never guessed that andy might try to become the fake person they were using for the money laundering. And try to catch him. 

Atlast we find the movie as a great inspiration for never losing hope. It was hope that kept them alive and it was hope that gave them the patients to go through all the obstacles that came to them.

Hope is the source of life. Never lose it.

(Note 1 : We do not mean any disrespect. Have no intentions to Offend anyone.)
(Note 2 : Plot summary is provided through WIKIPEDIA.)