There is very little that has not already been said about "The Shawshank Redemption," playing tonight as part of the Dartmouth Film Society "Movies of the Nineties" series. It is recognized in the general populace, if not necessarily in critical circles, as a wonderful movie with a great story and good acting.
While I was home over winter break, my friends were occupied with school since they're on a regular semester schedule. Without them to distract me, I had both the freedom and the incentive I needed to watch "Shawshank" three times on three different channels in the course of a week and a half -- an experience I wouldn't like to go through for most movies.
The point I am trying to stress here is that "The Shawshank Redemption" is one of the best films to be released in the past decade.
There are a number of factors that go into making "Shawshank" as well-liked as it is. First, the actors in the movie are generally top-notch. Tim Robbins stars as Andy Dufresne, a banker convicted of murdering his wife and her lover.
Robbins does a fantastic job making the character of Andy seem human and accessible to the audience. The angst he displays over the loss of his wife is almost palpable and his reaction to the sudden adjustment to prison life is very realistic and shows the strength of will inherent in Andy.
Morgan Freeman, who co-stars as Andy's best friend Red, also does a lot to make "Shawshank" a quality film with his gently wise portrayal of a convict who has given up on being released.
However, while the actors certainly do a fine job in the movie, the real strength of the film lies in the story. Stephen King, it turns out, actually knows how to write.
Despite his many forays into schlock horror novels that are subsequently turned into made-for-TV movies or banished to direct-to-video hell, King manages to turn out a few truly quality stories. The '80s classic "Stand By Me" is based on a King short story, and this year's prison drama "The Green Mile" is based on a series of his novels.
"Shawshank" is based on a short story of King's, allowing it to focus on the development of individual characters rather than on an overly elaborate plot or supernatural gimmick like many of his horror films.
Instead, the film stands as a testament to personal strength and hope in a world that very rarely manages to produce those things.
However, not everything about "Shawshank" is perfect. Most obviously, the title of the film is not only kind of goofy, it's wrong. This is not a movie about redemption; no one in the film is "redeemed." Rather, it is a movie about revenge.
Then there's the problem with the characters' ages. The story of the film takes place over the course of about 30 years. During that time, while Tim Robbins has his hair grayed and the warden of the prison is put through some minor aging, Morgan Freeman somehow manages to make the transition from an already numerically old man to a positively ancient man, all while looking about 50.
Nonetheless, "The Shawshank Redemption" is an excellent movie, and if you haven't seen it before, you should. If you have already watched it, take this opportunity to see it on the big screen; it really is a different experience.
Although it is not as perfect as it's made out to be, Shawshank remains a quality film with strong acting and a good story and is well worth the two hours it takes to watch it.
"The Shawshank Redemption" plays tonight at 6:45 and 9:30 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium.
