Finding Redemption at Shawshank
Spoilers ahead; the plot has secrets in it that you may not wish to know if you haven't seen it yet.
I recently watched The Shawshank Redemption (1994) again; I haven't seen it since the mid 90s when it released. It has held up well, and I liked it better than the last time I saw it. The pacing is superb, the ambience has just the right amount of gray, and the story is suitably affecting. This time around, I discovered that it's a much more nuanced film than I once thought it was. I'll just talk about two related points to illustrate this.
First, the happy ending with Red finding Andy on the beach always bothered me. It didn't seem in keeping with the rest of the film's dingy esthetics. But this time through, I noticed that just before the shot of Andy driving his convertible down the coast of Mexico, Red says, "When I picture him heading south in his own car with the top down, it makes me laugh all over again." This isn't really Andy driving... it's Red imagining Andy driving. I infer then that the final scene of them on the beach is also Red's imagination. Hold this thought while I discuss a second point.
There's a pair of scenes that indicate how Red will meet any attempt to change him with quiet resistance. They're out in the yard playing checkers, and Andy comments that Chess is a better game. After Red suggests that it's a mystery, Andy offers to teach him how to play. The subject of them playing games is dropped for quite some time, then in a subsequent scene, after an interval of 10-20 years, they are again playing checkers. There's no fanfare about this; it's a subtlety not often seen in Hollywood film. But it is very important.
If you didn't know, the "redemption" referred to in the title is that of Red (Morgan Freeman), not Andy (Tim Robbins). Andy never loses hope, and pushes patiently until he escapes. When Andy talks of Red's eventual release, Red just says, "I'm an institutional man now." This refers to Brooks, the old guy who was the librarian and spent 50 years in the prison. They talked of Brooks as an "institutional man"; someone who had been there so long, the walls had come to be necessary in his life. He had no idea how to live once he got out, and killed himself. Red even explicitly warns Andy about hope and how it's just a hurtful thing.
After Andy's escape, Red is finally paroled and goes through the same motions as Brooks did, working the same job and even living in the same apartment. The second checkers scene prepares us for him to take the same way out. But instead, he decides to go looking for Andy. That is the redemption.
The final scene being imagined and pristine is the best possible depiction of the redemption: it shows Red's newfound ability to imagine a better possible life for himself. Whether or not it really happens is completely irrelevant. He has regained hope, and that's what matters.
I recently watched The Shawshank Redemption (1994) again; I haven't seen it since the mid 90s when it released. It has held up well, and I liked it better than the last time I saw it. The pacing is superb, the ambience has just the right amount of gray, and the story is suitably affecting. This time around, I discovered that it's a much more nuanced film than I once thought it was. I'll just talk about two related points to illustrate this.
First, the happy ending with Red finding Andy on the beach always bothered me. It didn't seem in keeping with the rest of the film's dingy esthetics. But this time through, I noticed that just before the shot of Andy driving his convertible down the coast of Mexico, Red says, "When I picture him heading south in his own car with the top down, it makes me laugh all over again." This isn't really Andy driving... it's Red imagining Andy driving. I infer then that the final scene of them on the beach is also Red's imagination. Hold this thought while I discuss a second point.
There's a pair of scenes that indicate how Red will meet any attempt to change him with quiet resistance. They're out in the yard playing checkers, and Andy comments that Chess is a better game. After Red suggests that it's a mystery, Andy offers to teach him how to play. The subject of them playing games is dropped for quite some time, then in a subsequent scene, after an interval of 10-20 years, they are again playing checkers. There's no fanfare about this; it's a subtlety not often seen in Hollywood film. But it is very important.
If you didn't know, the "redemption" referred to in the title is that of Red (Morgan Freeman), not Andy (Tim Robbins). Andy never loses hope, and pushes patiently until he escapes. When Andy talks of Red's eventual release, Red just says, "I'm an institutional man now." This refers to Brooks, the old guy who was the librarian and spent 50 years in the prison. They talked of Brooks as an "institutional man"; someone who had been there so long, the walls had come to be necessary in his life. He had no idea how to live once he got out, and killed himself. Red even explicitly warns Andy about hope and how it's just a hurtful thing.
After Andy's escape, Red is finally paroled and goes through the same motions as Brooks did, working the same job and even living in the same apartment. The second checkers scene prepares us for him to take the same way out. But instead, he decides to go looking for Andy. That is the redemption.
The final scene being imagined and pristine is the best possible depiction of the redemption: it shows Red's newfound ability to imagine a better possible life for himself. Whether or not it really happens is completely irrelevant. He has regained hope, and that's what matters.
posted by Almo at 5:11 PM
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