Be Reel Blog Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank begins in a courtroom with defendant Andy Dufresne being questioned by a state prosecutor as to the events that transpired the night of his wife's murder. Andy is on the stand being accused but maintains that he is innocent of this crime but due to his handgun never being found after he tossed it in a nearby river he is sentenced to serve a double life sentence in Shawshank prison. In the next scene we meet Red being questions by a parole board on the status of his rehabilitation after serving 20 years of a life sentence given to him for cutting the brake lines on his wife's car killing a neighbor and child.  Red is introduced as a made man in the prison who is the type of guy who knows how to get his hands on things, such as Rita Hayworth. Andy is transported to Shawshank in 1949 where he does not transition well into prison life from the life of a wealthy banker. Andy is met with the harsh realities that the guards aren't there for their protection but rather to ensure that Warden Norton’s orders and policies are carried out without question by the inmates.  Red’s first interaction with Andy comes during the intake period when he bets against Andy making it through his first night in. Warden Norton shows himself to be a no nonsense christian disciplinary who with the help of captain of the prison guard Hadley successfully demoralize and break the prisoners to the point that each intake results in at least one prisoner breakdown. Andy begins his relationship with Red by requesting a rock hammer for carving rocks. At the same time he begins to be harassed by a prison gang that periodically beat him into the infirmary. While on the inside Andy proves himself to the warden by helping cook the books on prison work schemes to make the warden a very wealthy man. When young intake named Tommy comes along it finally provides Andy with the purpose that he had been searching for in prison, and with Andy’s help Tommy begins to learn the skills necessary for his high school equivalency test. It eventually comes out that Tommy, while serving a sentence in another prison while younger met a man who bragged about committing a crime very similar to Andy’s. Using what Tommy told him Andy attempts to gain his freedom but is met with Warden Nortons indifference and an isolation cell. Andy takes this as his reason for rebellion and carefully plots an elaborate tunnel escape and expose about the money laundering scheme in the prison.

Overall Shawshank is one of the greatest movies I have seen with very meaning full depictions of the life of innocent men behind bars. Freedom is a very important topic in the film and camera angles while inside the prison are intentionally put inside confined areas, such as safes, closed doors, or through bars which gives the feeling of congestion and imprisonment. Aerial shots are also used to symbolize liberation, when andy is first brought to shawshank the camera is high in the air and goes around the entire prison before coming down to symbolize Andy’s last moments of freedom, and when Andy plays the Marriage of Figaro  over the loudspeakers the camera begins to soar above the inmates. I would rate this movie with Good-Good for its symbolism and cinematic excellence.