The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

Wrongfully accused and convicted of murdering his wife and her lover,

banker Andy Dufresne arrived at Shawshank Prison in 1947 with a life

sentence. On arriving at the prison gate with the other inmates, "Red"

Redding bet his buddies that Andy would be the first of the new

inmates to break that night. Andy would prove him wrong many times

over the years. Although pleading innocent, he quickly adapts to

prison life keeping himself quiet and reserved from the other inmates

but prisoners and guards alike are soon to realise that Andy Dufresne

is unlike any man to enter Shawshank before.

As he settles to Shawshank Andy begins to become friends with Red who

is the first to see him as being different. After requesting Red to

smuggle a rock hammer - to collect stones for a hobby, Andy and Red

become good friends.

Being a man who is very intelligent Andy manages to gain much respect

with the guards and warden by helping them with their personal

finances. He also arranged for his co-workers to be rewarded with an

ice cold beer whilst they worked on the roof. This impressed the

fellow inmates as Andy had done something just for them. But Andy was

also a rebellious man who refused to stick to some of the Shawshank

rules. For instance playing opera music over a loud speaker for every

inmate to hear and enjoy. Andy also was sent to solitary confinement

because of new comer at Shawshank Tommy, who had served time before,

told Andy that his former cellmate had confessed of murdering a young

woman and her lover. This proved Andy’s innocence but none of the

guards listened to this fact. Tommy ended up to be eliminated ...

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... if there are any questions to be

answered from the new arrivals. One man asks "when do we eat?” Instead

of getting a decent answer a guard approaches him and uses abusive

language against him then kicks him. As he kicks him diegetic sounding

is used to add the sound of the "thump". The governor is then shown

again completely straight faced. He holds out a bible to prove his

honesty and goodness. He ends his speech with a smile and says "welcome

to Shawshank." This phrase although sounding friendly is telling the

prisoners that they are actually there and it's no longer a nightmare

but reality.

This opening scene we get of Shawshank Prison itself completely sets

the mood and gives the viewer an introduction to the film. It gives a

brief outlook of the main characters and provides a good understanding

to the plot.