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Shawshank Redemption

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Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
Movie Analysis

The movie “The Shawshank Redemption” is about Andy Dufresne, a former vice-president of a large Portland Bank. He was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. Thus, he ended up serving two life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary. The movie follows Andy’s tormenting life in prison, his friendship with a fellow inmate Ellis “Red” Redding, and Andy’s determination to claim freedom once again.

When one touches the story of freedom, one may always set the tone of it through using the image of prison, which is appropriately the main setting in the movie. Through Shawshank prison, the main theme of the movie is depicted, which is freedom or the absence of freedom thereof. Freedom is absent in the way the prisoners are unable to physically escape the place itself. A prisoner cannot choose to be with his/her loved ones because he/she is in a prison cell. Andy, who used to be a successful banker, cannot choose to keep his job because he is incarcerated. A prisoner cannot choose to live the life he wants to because of all these limitations.

Freedom is also absent in the way the prisoners are programmed to live a routinely life, adhering to strict schedules and following orders from harsh wardens. Being in Shawshank prison is also like an endless nightmare. According to Red, “Old life blown away in the blink of an eye...a long cold season in hell stretching out ahead...nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it.” As one enters the high walls, plain bricks, thick metal bars of a cell and a bare room, one can never imagine himself/herself to survive. This can be shown by how the new fat inmate screamed for his despair and said that belongingness in that prison was not even possible. Such a routinely life, from the time he/she wakes up, eats, takes a bath, and works, adds to one’s lifelessness. The public baths and surprise inspections of cells leave no room for your privacy. A prisoner

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