Week 50 – The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

• The Shawshank Redemption
• Released: 10/14/1994
• Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore
• Director: Frank Darabont
• IMDB Page

Welcome back! It’s time for another week of 52 Films, 52 Portraits! It’s hard to believe that we are getting so close to the end! This week’s film was chosen by my friend, Dan. Dan works on health insurance policy for a national trade association in Washington, D.C., and lives with his wife, Carrie, in Alexandria, VA.

Dan and I during a kayaking adventure last summer.

Like many of the participants on this this blog before him, Dan told me that he would not consider himself a huge fan of film. He said that he generally sees 3-5 films in theaters each year. He used to see more when he lived right by a theater, but now he gets most of his new movie fill from Netflix. He said that when looking for a new movie to watch, he usually prefers smaller independent releases, anyway. He added that when he’s looking to be entertained, he’s more likely to seek out something that is shown “in shorter bursts and more interactive than a 2+ hour movie allows.” He said that he appreciates films for being able to portray the story created by the writer. Providing visuals, audio, etc. He said that there is value, however, in the reader’s interpretation of these things in their mind when reading, but he finds that it is always interesting to see how filmmakers adapt things for the screen. One example of an adaptation that Dan enjoyed is Life of Pi. He said that the story is almost identical to that of the book on which it is based, but that the visuals of the film were even beyond what he had imagined.

Dan admitted that the earliest films he remembers seeing in theaters may not have been age appropriate. These included Jurassic Park (he would have been 5 years old), The Rock (8), and Independence Day (also 8). He can also remember going to the theaters at a pretty young age to watch the “Pierce Brosnan-era Bond films.” Really, though, most of his childhood memories involve watching films at home with his family. These films included Home Alone, Kindergarten Cop, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption.

As the films listed in the previous paragraph show, Dan’s film preferences are represented by a wide range of genres. He told me that he would consider his favorites to be dramas, thrillers, action films, and comedies. He said that thrillers in particular have really grown in his list of favorites in recent years. He loves that they can pull you in from the beginning, and keep you their through the end. He said that one of the first thrillers he remembers being exposed to was Final Destination. He was not a fan of the sequels, but said that that first film had an unrelenting quality and was actually pretty original, especially when compared to “the teenage slasher films it competed against.” Similarly, he told me that he’s also become a fan of the horror/thriller genre, citing The Shining (another Stephen King film!) as the peak of that genre in his mind. Dan also said that he is not generally drawn to films based solely on who is in them or who made them, but that he has ” almost universally liked the works of Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, and Denzel Washington.”

Interestingly, the primary film that Dan considered choosing before making his decision is nothing like his final choice. Dan said that he very seriously and “(mostly) non-ironically” considered the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, Kindergarten Cop. He said that it’s just a film that he grew up watching many times, and that no matter how silly it may be, it will always have some sentimental value to him.

Dan told me that he ultimately chose The Shawshank Redemption, “because it tells a story from an unlikely perspective.” It tells the story of a wrongly convicted man serving a life sentence, and introduces us to a variety of other characters at the same time. The film manages to get us invested in the central convicts, showing us their humanity, and managing to get us to root for them. At the same time, it shows how the people that should be the good guys: the guards and warden, may actually be the most criminal characters in the film.

Dan said that his earliest memories around the film involve staying up late to watch it on cable TV in the late 90’s and early 00’s. He said that what he thinks has always spoken to him about the film is its message about “the power of hope.” He said that this is especially evident in Morgan Freeman’s character, Red. Red has already been in prison for many years when we are introduced to him via Tim Robbins’ Andy. He is jaded and has lost all hope of freedom. However, over the next 20 years spanned by the film, we watch the hope begin to grow within him. By the end of the film, he has even admitted to himself that he has allowed himself to hope.

Dad told me that for him, The Shawshank Redemption is a rare example of a film being superior to its source material. He said that the film format actually allowed the narrative within the original story to breathe and stretch in ways that it did not on the page. Because it was a short story, Dan said that he feels that the 20 year journey that the characters go through is actually portrayed more effectively by the film. We feel the years passing by with a greater weight in the film.

Dan said that the film continues to have a profound impact on his life. He said that he thinks that it shaped many of his social and political views. From an early age, it got him interested in the justice system. In High School, he participated in Youth and Government (with Joe!), and “wrote a bill to provide criminal justice reform so that public defenders would have more time and resources to advocate on behalf of their impoverished clients.” The film left a big impression on him in terms of how the criminal justice system can really fail people. He has continued to follow various media with similar themes, from the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer to the podcast series “Serial.” Dan said that perhaps the biggest thing that The Shawshank Redemption did for him was to remind him to always consider the other perspective and to never rush to judgment.

This was one of the weeks that I was the most excited about from this blog. So many different participants listed The Shawshank Redemption as one of their favorite films, and yet it was one that I had somehow never seen before. Also, since I really enjoyed The Green Mile earlier in the project, and I knew they were both Stephen King prison stories brought to the big screen by Frank Darabont, I felt like there was a good chance that I was going to enjoy this one as well.

And I did! There was so much to love about the film. Last week, Marc mentioned that what he loves so much about The Shawshank Redemption is the relationship between Andy and Red. After watching the film, I can definitely understand this sentiment. Their relationship is the heart of the film. I also loved the score to the film. From the first bars at the beginning of the film, I was hooked. It really helped to transport me into the world of the film. And, of course, the performances were outstanding. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, were phenomenal, but so were the supporting cast. There wasn’t a weak performance in the group. I also appreciated that we got to follow so many different stories through Andy and Red, despite the fact that they were usually heartbreaking (see: Brooks, Tommy).

I actually am interested in checking out the novella now and seeing what inspired the film in the first place. To be honest, I haven’t read much Stephen King, but I’m starting to think that I really should!

That’s all I have time for this week. This was definitely a good one! Let me know what you think in the comments, and don’t forget to like, follow, and share! See you next week!

Thanks!

Up next: A Few Good Men