THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION [Darabont 1994] - movie review by Mandibil

An adaptation of a book for film, is not the easiest task. Firstly, popular books have already created a story in peoples heads, that they usually want to have confirmed. Secondly, the transformation to the film medium, can be a difficult task, without leaving important parts out or adding new things to conform to the new medium. This one is an adaptation of a Stephen King book. I have not read any of his books, i am not that much for fiction books anyway. But it seems that his way of structuring plot and story, conforms well to movie adaptations, since a long list of his novels have been made into movies. This prison story takes us into a world, that is like a small, twisted sub-world, within our human race, that is equally fascinating and repulsive.

An introvert banker, Andy Dufresne, is convicted of murdering his wife, and put in Shawshank prison. At first he keeps a low profile, to avoid getting into trouble. He is continually being raped by a group of sociopathic inmates for a time, but does not do anything about it. He opens up to Red, a black inmate, who runs the local "black market". They slowly become friends and Red fixes Andy up with a few items, like a rockhammer and a poster of Rita Hayworth. After a couple of years, Andy offers to help a guard with his taxes, and he quickly ends up helping out pretty much everyone in the prison, including the Warden. Andy gets some liberties, like running the small library and doing accounting for the Warden and getting protection from rapists from the guards. When a new inmate arrives years later, who has witness evidence, that can acquit Andy from his sentence, things start rolling. The warden is not interested in letting Andy go, because he needs him. But Andy has a plan that takes everybody by surprise.

Morgan Freeman is perfectly cast as Red, who the story is told through. Tim Robbins is also a perfect match for the sensitive, but secretive Andy. The two of them together takes this movie to another level. It is a tale about an unlikely friendship, that would not have occurred outside the confines of prison. It is a tale about how to stay sane in an insane and inhumane environment. It is a tale about the destruction of human souls and making them unable to deal with the society, they are kept away from. It is a tale about the sadism and sociopathy of those who run such institutions, for their own gains and selfish pleasures. It is a tale about revenge over those who hurt and use you and freedom from control and exploitation. Everything is perfectly but gently balanced out over the course of the film, which is a rare treat. All the while the plot keeps moving forward in steady but surprising ways, that keeps you tied to your chair all the way.

This is in many ways a masterpiece of storytelling. A masterclass of how things are supposed to be arranged and paced, to make the most of the story and the plot. It gets a lot of credit for that. In my book i looses a bit on the emotional side and it does not have enough artistic balls. It walks the line of being a bit too much on the feel good side, and too little on the tough side. It is no secret that this movie has been a consistent #1 on the IMDB top 250 movies list for years. I guess this is because it succeeds so well at balancing all these stories into one, without pissing any kind of moviegoer off. And this is its only weakness. The ending is just too nice and cozy for my taste, and that is a bit of a shame. There is nothing about it that sticks out or provokes me. It is just too "perfect".

Rating: 8/10