FILM REVIEW

The Shawshank Redemption seemingly empty freedom of The Shawshank is a story about a loving parole life. Redemption friendship between two men The film is a narrative who find redemption in the about hope and despair, about unwavering confidence and the power of institutionalization devotion they give each other. to drain the spirit from those Although the film plays on one held inside; the prison setting level as a standard prison tale, is a metaphor for any institu- with the requisite scenes of tionalized setting, most aptly a brutality, rape and sadistic mental hospital. In prison hope guards, the director, Frank is more feared than any other Darabont, signals that the movie emotion; the pain of its dashing is not an action cliche with the is felt every year by Red when song accompanying the opening his parole is denied (and only credits," If I Didn't Care." The granted after 40 years). Only Shawshank Redemption is based Andy, restored by Red's on a novella by Stephen King, friendship and by the solidarity but it is surprisingly free (with of other male prisoners, seems one dramatic exception of the able to hold on to hope, secretly prison escape of one of the carving a tunnel out of his cell protagonists) of gimmicks and over the years. His pathway to credulity- straining plot devices. freedom is mirrored by the Instead the story builds a quiet prison library and education momentum as two men in program he creates to offer prison, one innocent. Andy another way out of prison to his (finely acted by Tim Robbins), fellow inmates. While Red's and one guilty. Red, (played goals for himself are far less lofty with great depth and restraint than Andy's, who dreams of by Morgan Freeman) survive running a little hotel on a beach the horrors of a 20 year plus in Mexico; his triumph is more confinerrieht by demanding the profound: he forgives himself for most in courage and self respect his youthful crime and accepts froin each other. As the friend- his years in prison as payment ship grows, so does their self rendered in full. knowledge. Each saves the other from the worst in his nature: Red The movie offers a not- confronts Andy with his icy so oblique commentary on the By Mary Ann Jimenez disconnection from all things dehumanizing reality of prison human after his false conviction society. Denied the structures of murdering his wife; Andy that support sanity in the outside pulls Red out of the despair world, the prisoners create a Mary Ann Jimenez, Ph.D. accompanying Red's belief compelling virtual reality of their is professor. Department of that he is an "institutionalized own, with brutalizing systems Social Work, California State man" and cannot survive the of reward and punishment, University, Long Beach. hierarchies of honor and shame.

69 REFLECTIONS: JANUARY 95 to hedge against the madness . inhumanity of prison life. His that an unadomed confrontation character cannot be redeemed of their circumstances would because he has no talent for encourage. The inevitable fruit- human connection. lessness of so-called crime Red is the warden's policies which would increase counterpart in the parallel world the number of prisoners and the of prisoners and prison officials; terms of prison sentences ("three his hatred drains away as the strikes and you're out") is a years chronicled by the story strong subtext of the film. Few accumulate. A leader among his possibilities for rehabilitation fellows. Red knows the pain emerge in this prison and the implicit in hope. Whereas Andy one that does, Andy's library, was not guilty and escaped to comes to a disastrous end, rein- live out the life he always had forcing the sense that cruelty coming to him; Red was guilty inevitably shadows hopefulness of murder; he spends his years in prison life. The darkness of in prison silently regretting the the film is underscored by the senseless crime he committed absence of women in any signi- when he was young. His ficant role. The men's struggle tenderness toward Andy, his for dominance, survival and fatherly concern for all the mental endurance seems more prisoners and his quiet humor, difficult and raw without the offer the film's counterpoint to counterpoint of women's voices the grimness of prison life. In and presence. the end it is Andy who offers Red The film's photography the chance to remake himself, is outstanding; scenes inside to shed the "institutionalized the prison are bathed in man." That Red emerges from shadows, as if to reflect the prison after 40 years and psychological and spiritual dark- ultimately eagerly embraces ness gripping the prisoners. hope is the redemption promised With the exception of two the viewer in the film's title. D stereotypical characters (one a sadistic prison guard and the other a predatory prisoner leading repeated gang rapes of Andy), the actors create their characters with great tender- ness and subtlety. Particularly fine is the portrayal of the prison warden by Bob Gunton, as a man living on a razor edge of control, perfectly mirroring the oppressive control under which the prisoners live. The rage of the warden is more palpable than that of those imprisoned at Shawshank, his hatred seems the unwitting reflection of the

JANUARY 95 REFLECTIONS: 70 Copyright of Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping is the property of Cleveland State University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.