The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a very unique movie which involves many different

personalities and underlying themes. The personalities of the inmates are very interesting and

when they are combined they create a very fascinating plot which looks at prison life in a

interesting and different perspective than one normally thinks. It was film in 1994 written and

directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. This film was

adapted from the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, This movie

was filmed in and around the city of Mansfield, Ohio, located in north-central Ohio. The prison

featured in the film is the old Ohio State Reformatory immediately north of downtown

Mansfield. It tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to life in

Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders 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 (Morgan Freeman). Interesting that although the hero of the film is the

convicted former banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), the action is never seen from his point

of view. "The Shawshank Redemption" creates a warm hold on our feelings because it makes us

a member of a family. Many movies offer us vicarious experiences and quick, superficial

emotions. "Shawshank" slows down and looks. It uses the narrator's calm, observant voice to

include us in the story of men who have formed a community behind bars.

A young Portland banker, Andy Dufresne, is convicted of the murder of Linda Dufresne

and Glenn Quintin his wife and her lover, respectively. Andy is adamant in defending his

innocence, but the evidence is overwhelming and he is sentenced to two life sentences in

Shawshank Prison. In prison, he strikes up a friendship with a fellow inmate, Red, who has been

in Shawshank for 20 years. Red is known as the “man who knows how to get things” and can get
almost anything a prisoner could want from the outside world. Andy approaches Red after a

month of incarceration requesting a rock hammer in order to pick up his old hobby of rock

collecting and shaping. Shawshank is a cruel and unforgiving environment, with merciless

guards, violent outbursts, and frequent instances of sexual assault. Early on Andy becomes the

target of persistent rape from a gang called the “The Sisters” and their leader, Bogs. As a way of

avoiding this abuse, Andy takes up a week-long job tarring the roof of a nearby factory. While

working, he hears the captain of the guards, Byron Hadley, complaining about an exorbitant tax

on his inheritance, and Andy sees an opportunity. As a former banker, Andy offers to help

Hadley avoid taxation and earns some protection from the bullyish captain.When Bogs and the

Sisters next attack Andy, they beat him up so bad that he is put in the infirmary, but Hadley,

newly ingratiated to the former banker, avenges his attack by beating Bogs to a pulp, to such an

extent that Bogs gets transferred to a hospital. When Andy returns from the infirmary, he

requests a poster of Rita Hayworth from Red, which Red dutifully procures, and which Andy

soon hangs on his wall.As word of Andy's financial expertise becomes more widely known, the

warden, Norton, offers Andy a position working in the prison library, where he can better help

guards (and Norton) with their financial concerns. There Andy takes an interest in improving the

library and helping to educate his fellow inmates, writing to the Senate everyday requesting more

books, until they finally cave and meet his demands. At some point, an older inmate, the gentle

Brooks, is released from prison into the real world. While it seems as though freedom is all he

can ever have wanted, the real world does not agree with the older man, who finds himself in a

halfway house after 50 years of imprisonment, and hangs himself in his room.After Norton

institutes a program through which the prisoners can begin working on infrastructure outside the

prison walls, he begins accepting bribes from local businesses who fear that prison labor will
take away opportunities for their business. Andy hides the money away in a bank account under

a fake name, helping the warden launder money for many years.In 1964, Shawshank welcomes a

new inmate, a likable man named Tommy Williams, who becomes a friend of Red and Andy.

Andy helps Tommy learn to read and get a diploma, and it eventually comes to light that Tommy

knows the person who actually killed Andy’s wife and her lover. Seeing a way to freedom, Andy

informs the warden of the evidence, hoping for a second trial, but the warden needs to protect his

investment and has Tommy killed and Andy put in solitary confinement for 2 months.When

Andy finally gets out of confinement, he tells Red about his dreams of freedom, to live in

Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town. Red says it would never happen, but Andy maintains hope

and tells Red that if he ever gets out of Shawshank he should go to a place in Buxton to retrieve a

package buried under an oak tree.The next day, Andy’s doesn’t come out for roll call, having

escaped through a hole he has been digging with the rock hammer for many years. He poses as

the fake person in whose name all of Norton's money has been deposited, takes the money, and

flees to Mexico. In the process, he also tips the police off to Norton's shady business dealings.

When the authorities go to arrest the warden, he shoots himself.After 40 years, Red finally makes

parole, and visits the place in Buxton that Andy told him about. He digs up a box full of money

and a letter from Andy telling him to come to Zihuatanejo. He does and the two friends reunite.