The Friday Freak Classic: Shawshank Redemption

There are movies and then there are riveting, spellbinding and thought provoking movies. The Shawshank Redemption is one of the latter. The  Shawshank Redemption is one of Steven Speilberg's only non horror movie that actually saw the great arclights of Hollywood. It has won numerous accolades and routinely makes its way into the Top 10 movie lists all around. The Friday Speak speaks about it.

    * Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
    * Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
    * Bob Gunton as Warden Samuel Norton
    * William Sadler as Heywood
    * Clancy Brown as Capt. Byron Hadley
    * Gil Bellows as Tommy Williams
    * Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond
    * James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen

 It is 1947, when the prison system is almost medieval, and a person could rot in jail for entirely no reason. It is in these times that Andy Dufresne, a respected accountant is found guilty of killing his wife and her paramour, only on the strength of circumstantial evidence.

Why a seemingly harmless, even diminutive accountant is sent to one of the harshest prisons under some of the lowest scum of the universe is never explained, but then maybe that was the way it was in '47, some eggheads would sit in the evening and take out chits, sitting by the fireplace and deciding who goes where.

Anyway, Andy soon makes friends with some of the people in the prison, which is no mean feet because one thing remains same in the prisons of 2010 and 1947 - the complete lack of an ability to befriend or believe in the initial stages.  He is the biggest friends with Red, who has a knack of getting things from the outside.

The entire story is basically about Andy rises above the occasion, and brings out the best in everyone around him. Together, this team of people who have been brought about experience success, defeat, frustration, futility, satisfaction, and create such bonds that no men with the sky above their head would ever be able to.

Since the movie is based on a novel, the comparisons would always be there, but this is one of the better made 'Now a Major Motion Picture' stickers. The direction is top class, the dialogues are almost nature speaking to you, and I have rarely seen a more gritty performance by anyone.

One has to think which are the highpoints in the movie, whether its that moment when the entire prison listens to Opera because of Andy, or is it that sequence when the Warden finds out that Andy has actually escaped. Of course, we forget the scenarios where Redd talks about how he does not want a parole, or even the sequence where Andy finally finds out that he would never be released because he has become too profitable on the inside.

This is a movie that keeps you spellbound and in a rapture all through the scenes. Definitely stock it up.