The 1994 classic prison drama of Frank Darabont made one think of several theme in life worth pondering upon, as all film of any note do. This film, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is basically about hope and freedom. A banker, Andy Dufresne who has sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding and becomes instrumental in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton.
In 1965, a new prisoner Tommy Williams incarcerated for burglary, Andy and Red befriend him and Andy helps him passing his GED exam. A year later, Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that his cellmate at another prison had claimed responsibility for the murders for which Andy was convicted. He approaches Norton with this information, but Norton refuses to listen to his opinion and sends him back to solitary confinement when he mentions the money laundering. After, Norton called Tommy in the middle of the night to talk to him. Then Norton asks him whether or not what he said to Andy and Red was the truth, when he answers affirmatively, Norton gives a sign to Captain Hadly to shoot Tommy from a tower. Andy attempts to discontinue the laundering but relents after Norton threatens to destroy the library, remove Andy’s protection from the guards, and move him to worse conditions. Andy is released from solitary confinement after two months, and he tells a skeptical Red that he dreams of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town. Andy also tells him of a specific hayfield near Buxton, asking Red to retrieve a package that Andy buried there. Red worries about Andy’s well-being, especially when he learns Andy asked a fellow inmate for six feet rope.
At the next morning’s roll call, the guards found Andy’s cell empty, then an irate Norton throws a rock at a poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the cell wall, revealing a tunnel that Andy dug with his rock hammer over the last 19 years. The previous night, Andy used the rope to escape through the tunnel and prison sewage pipe, taking Norton’s suit, shoes, and ledger, containing proof of the money laundering. While guards search for him, Andy poses as Randall Stephens, withdraws the laundered money from several banks, and mails the ledger and other evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. State police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.
After serving 40 years, Red is finally paroled. He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears that 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 by traveling to Fort Hancock, Texas, and crossing the border into Mexico, admitting that he finally feels hope. He finds Andy on a beach in Zihuatanejo, and the two reunited friends happily embrace.
In the film, hope is Andy’s mission. He maintains an inner sanctuary for what life is supposed to be, evidenced in scenes like the one where he’s put in solitary confinement. Andy remarks that Mozart kept him company in the hole, starting, “That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you”.
Because he knows he is an innocent man, Andy’s determination to escape is not just about the result of getting out of prison, it is equally about maintaining his self worth through commitment to the pursuit of his freedom. He doesn’t allow the flawed, corrupt system to break him down. Instead, he breaks down the system when he busts out by exposing the illicit business practices of the prison’s warden. He doesn’t let hope become something abstract that disappears over the years. Instead, he makes it literal, chiseling it out of the wall one hopeful chunk of concrete at a time. Andy doesn’t allow prison to deprive him of his innate humanity, dignity and self governance, proving that the institution can never truly master him. “Some birds are not meant to be caged,” Red reflects.
Andy also finds ways to embody hope throughout the film in small physical manifestations that remind imprisoned people what it’s like to be free. A bottle of beer, a funded library, some money, and a note left under a tree. The last is what Andy plants to motivate Red who has nothing but hope left in his life after he’s finally paroled. The film’s final lines encapsulate the theme of hope, revealing the power Andy’s demeanor has on others and how his optimism enables eventual life outside the walls. “I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
Brooks was an inmate at the prison from 1905 to 1955. As he leaves, he lets his pet, jake go free. The prison doors open, and Brooks steps out and takes a bus to his new home, he is astounded by the changes in the world since he was free to his friends at the prison, in which he expresses his difficulties adjusting to the outside world. Including, living in constant fear, and longing to break his parole so they had sent him back home. He ties a rope around the beam, puts a noose around his neck, then he rocks the table, and it falls.
Red is a fictional character and deuteragonist in this film. A longtime inmate at Shawshank known as the man who can smuggle anything in, he is the narrator of the Stephen King short story and movie. He finds difficult to adapt to outside life after he paroled. He works as a bag boy in Food Way and lives in the same house Brooks had.
The outside world is fast and much larger. The song too are far and loud compared to the ones he listened to before he went it. Red finds awkward to be around women. He keeps asking his boss for small things including going to the toilet, because he isn’t used to doing anything without saying say so. He keeps thinking about breaking his parole rules and going back to Shawshank, things make sense. But he still thinking of Andy and his escape and so he is able to keep a positive attitude.
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