The Shawshank Redemption

 If I were to name one of the movies that had a climax which shocked me to my core, 'The Shawshank Redemption' would easily be the first one to come to my mind. This movie is now considered one of IMdb's top rated movies of all time but when it was released, back in the 90s, it had a tragic flop. Many reasons could take credit for that. The release of blockbuster movies like 'Forrest Gump' and 'Pulp Fiction' at the same time, the not-so-appealing title name and the lack of female roles could be a few. It had a re-release, later on, and did get the needed recognition but this movie is so much more than just a profit in the theatres. It talks about so many life values and about how faith can move mountains. For those who haven't watched it yet, spoiler alert, let me give you a briefing.

The Shawshank prison is, what one could call, the worst prison ever. It's not like we have a lot of experience in prison but, as far as we know, there are things shown to happen at Shawshank that are not supposed to happen at normal prisons. Andy Dufresne, though actually innocent, is accused of murdering his wife and her lover and is admitted to Shawshank for two life sentences. Red, who is guilty of trying to murder his wife for insurance money, befriends Andy. Red has been serving his life sentence at Shawshank for around 20 years and is a smuggler who gets the prisoners what they want. Cigarettes, chewing gums, sipping whiskey, playing cards, you name it. Andy liked sculpting little rocks and therefore, had Red get him a rock hammer; a tiny little hammer that, according to Andy, "would take a man 600 years to escape prison with". Red had also procured him a large poster of Rita Hayworth upon request. An incident of helping the captain of guards, Byron Hadley, shelter his money tax-free and a well byhearted bible led to Andy being liked by the guards. Over the course of years, he makes several renovations to the jail library and helps the warden, Samuel Norton, launder money under a fake identity. One day, Andy makes Red give him a promise to visit a hayfield near Buxton, when he gets a parole, and take a box that is secured there, under a huge chunk of black glass. 

At the next day's roll call, Andy's cell was found empty. The man had dug a tunnel in his jail wall, that stood hidden behind the huge Rita Hayworth poster, little by little every day, during the 19 long years of imprisonment. At 1966, he had escaped Shawshank prison without a trace! All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap and an old rock hammer. He went through the tunnel in his wall, broke the sewage pipe and crawled through 500 yards of shit to his freedom. Just so you know 500 yards is the length of about 5 football fields! A year later, Red got paroled and stepped foot into the outside world for the first time in 40 years. He finds trouble putting up with the outside world and is afraid he would hang himself just like Brooks, an early jail mate, did. The only thing keeping him in one piece was the promise he gave Andy. He violates parole to travel to Texas and the dear friends finally unite.

This worldwide hit has almost no criticism except for a few critics saying that it has a little too many side stories. Well, I loved the movie a little too much to have found anything wrong with it. Also, it stars Morgan Freeman, so what more could you ask for. But it was not the popularity, climax or cast of the movie that made me grow so fond of it. It was what the story had to say. It was the friendship that the characters shared. It was the barriers they would cross for it.

When Andy is admitted to prison, he is stripped of nearly everything he had in life. When Red got out of prison, he was stripped of everything he had in prison. Yet, they both decided to not leave hope. Andy never let go of the hope of being able to escape, just like Red didn’t let go the hope of being able to meet Andy. The biggest lesson Andy teaches us is that no matter how messy life would get, we could make things better each day, bit by bit, until it's all cleaned up and a way is paved. He reflects upon how we must make use of the opportunities we have, and not whine over the ones that we wished we had. We are all, in a way, jailed. But we could try and get out. It may take days, weeks, a year; hell, it could even take over 19 years but in the end you'll know that all the effort was worth it. Andy and Red share a friendship that is so subtle and realistic. They did not always have the same opinion or sacrifice their lives for the other. Yet, in the end, they were most glad to have each other. They shared a bond difficult to be severed. One that is not so easy to be found these days.

This movie and Andy will teach you that when life gives you lemons, you ought to make one hell of a lemonade!

- Fathima Naushad.