Up until this movie, Stephen King is a talked-about name in which certain directors are willing to rise to the challenge of adapting a classic or underrated novel on to the big screen. It is not an easy task to replicate the material from the pages on to the screen so the ultimate goal is to execute the material with great character development, a fascinating story and a vision that matches Stephen King's vision. Not all of the adaptations are successful. Even though, Carrie, The Shining, Stand By Me, Pet Sematary, Misery got some positive buzz around these movies as most were prime examples of horror that either vaulted its genres or somehow laid out a notable acknowledgement without establishing it is a seminal classic. I know, Stand by Me is not a horror movie but it has an element of horror in which a group of kids finds out.
However, there is a movie in 1994 in which Stephen King wrote that is not a horror-genre based book. But, the prison life is subtext to horror, however, the outside world of Shawshank, which I will talk about later, can be represented as horror. But, when the movie came out, there was not much hype around this movie solely because (and this is silly) of the title. Not many people knew the title because they could mess up its name like "Shaw-Shank something". But, no, there were awards hype surrounding the movie and also its masterful performances by both Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. And, yet, I think this movie's word-of-mouth was the biggest when it was on VHS, DVD, digital, cable, Blu-ray, etc. Plus, even if the word-of-mouth has not increased, it does not matter because I think it is not solely a great movie that was made in 1994, I think it is a classic that was flown under the radar.
In 1947, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of murdering his wife and lover, identified as a "crime of passion". He is given two consecutive life sentences at the Shawshank Life Penitentiary. Enter Red (Morgan Freeman), a contraband smuggler who is given an inquiry about whether or not he has been rehabilitated. He is denied parole. Later, Red and his group of inmate friends, among them played by William Sadler and David Proval, sees Andy and a group of inmates lined up to go into the roughest day of their prison life: the first day at Shawshank where there are smothered with the white powder and they walk nude like they are a baby being born.
Andy has a rough start in Shawshank as he works in the prison laundry as he and Red introduce each other while Red was playing catch with Heywood (Sadler) but he warns Red about the Sisters and Bogs (Mark Rolston), a group of sodomites who frequently assault Andy. However, a few years later, when Andy, Red and the fellow inmates were resurfacing the roof, Captain Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) is complaining about the taxing on his inheritance from his brother and Andy offers to help him to finance his money legally. In exchange, they get cold beers and Red, Heywood and the other inmates warm up to Andy. However, when Andy gets beat up by the Sisters again and nearly killed, Bogs gets sent to solitary confinement and Hadley beats Bogs nearly to death and Bogs get sent to another prison.
Because of his work with helping with Hadley's finances, he sends Andy to Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton) to help with his money problems and also other guard's finances. But, also, he gets reassigned to the prison library where he meets Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), an elderly inmate who has been librarian for a while. Also, Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state government asking for newly, fresh books and other content to the library. However, it gets dark learns the truth as Andy finds out that he actually knows who killed his wife and lover and also that he is helping that Warden laundering money.
SPOILER ALERT!
Obviously, this is an excellent movie. But, what I paid attention very carefully this time is how the movie is structured within the three acts with the prologue. The prologue is basically Andy's sentencing. However, what director Frank Darabont does so cleverly is introduce each act with Red's parole hearing of whether or not he is rehabilitated and it starts a new decade for all the characters. Also, there is certain character development within all of the characters with both Red's and Andy's chemistry as friends but also in the first half of the movie with Brooks.
The movie clip above is so naturally poetic and also sad as Red clearly states that he is "an important man within Shawshank walls" as Brooks is an educated man knowing the system. However, in the outside world, he is nothing because he cannot adapt to the changing times because he is an elderly man. But, also, what is very subtly brilliant are the details of James Whitmore's excellent acting with his character clinging onto his briefcase while riding on the bus, fearing what is going to come up to him. The line where he saids that the authorities will "not kick up any fuss for an old crook like him" hits his reality hard because he is trapped within the Shawshank system. But, also, we do not know what to expect when he meets his demise as he reads his somber conclusion. Plus, it ties into the theme of hope real well.
Now, in a short scene in which Red tells Andy that hope is a dangerous thing and can drive a man insane but Andy is positive about potentially getting out and maybe educating himself more within the system as he is already educated himself as a banker. Red, being in the prison for so long, abandons hope because he may not have a chance getting out by parole. But, also Brooks had hope of getting out while being in prison when he was younger, but as an elderly person, it's a lot more complicated than it seems.
All right, let's go on to the best sequence in the movie: the prison escape. It is done with such precision as the second act starts with Andy finding out that the Warden is running some scams and he is solely helping with the profits. However, Andy makes an alias in which he sends the profits to a figment of his imagination named Randall Stevens. What is so ironically funny is that "he was an honest man on the outside, but he came to prison to be a crook". However, Andy had a great personality when it comes to perseverance whether he kept asking Red for things, kept sending letters to the government for funds for more books or taking him about 20 years to set up a plan to escape. What is so masterful is how quiet his planning was on-screen because you find out in the beginning that he had enough of the Warden because he kills one prison witness and he knows about the scams. But, even before the corruption, he just planned with such detail perfectly and I have to tip my hat to Darabont and Stephen King to this clever writing.
Now, I have not talk about him yet in detail. But, Morgan Freeman's performance both from a physical point of view and narrative point of view gives one of the most masterfully acted roles in a movie ever. Sometimes, narration can be distracting and cheesy and can describe the scene and feelings in context while showing the action without much poetry and prowess. However, he provides so much context to his character and also to the story with such eloquence and prowess that Freeman eases you into the story like an audiobook of this movie. It's like Goodfellas in a way from Ray Liotta's and Lorraine Bracco's narration as Henry and Karen Hill except that that movie was a true story. He, as Red, gives you such insight of the tone and feel of the times in the Shawshank prison of what they are doing something and what sort of insight that Red is observing and how he is feeling. The movie is both Andy's and Red's stories: one man who is innocent in being introduced to the system with rough patches and another who has been in there for a long time in trying to be a good man with not much hope.
I get a bit turned off as people say that this movie "captures the triumph of the human spirit" because most of the time, they do not and sometimes focuses on another main aspect. This is one of those rare movies that captures the triumph of the human spirit because hope, perseverance and friendship are what driving two men to try to live better in a confined system for decades. It is inspirational because you want Andy, knowing he is innocent from one sequence, to be fine and maybe get out. Plus, the last line of dialogue of "I hope" sums up one character's abandonment of that negativity of that virtue that can earn tears from viewers, along with its last scene of peacefulness and a bright spot of redemption and enlightenment. Well, I have not heard one person (right?) that says that this is a bad movie because the storytelling, the execution, the performances, the cinematography by Roger Deakins (especially that opera scene), the score by Thomas Newman, the tone and ending are all perfect. There is not one single misstep. It is a marvelous tale that you can watch whenever it's on cable or if you have it physically and/or digitally. Thank you, Frank Darabont, Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and last, but certainly, not least, Stephen King.
Comments
Post a Comment