This almost two-and-a-half hour long movie tells an engrossing, at times depressing but ultimately uplifting story based on Stephen King’s novella that starts in the late forties and ends two decades later. Cooped up in a high security Shawshank prison for years, ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman) is unsuccessfully trying for a release on parole. On one end, he wants his freedom but on the other, he is afraid that he might not fit in outside world after spending such a large chunk of his life inside prison. Inside the jail, he is the wise one, the enterprising one has the knack to arrange to smuggle and sell any item to inmates. World- weary Red’s wry and cynical narration takes us deeper into the story and then enters a rookie inmate- Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins). Previously a hotshot banker, Andy has been sentenced for life for killing his wife and her lover- a crime which many believe he hasn’t committed.

 

From the moment, he enters that prison run with an iron-hand by a sadist warden (Bob Gunton), Andy is ear-marked by Red as being the ‘soft’ one- unfit for rigors of jail-life and if the early difficulties faced by Andy are any indication, then for a while it seems that his break-down is inevitable. But then Andy surprises Red by his stoic survival instinct and an unlikely but deep friendship develops between the two. Using his banking skills, Andy slowly wins over both, the jail officers and the inmates- helping them avoid taxes on their illegal incomes, becoming their unofficial book-keeper. The years are rolling on but Andy isn’t frustrated one bit. Is he hatching some ingenious plot?

 

Director Frank Darabont, who also wrote the screen-play, keeps the film simple and flowing. The suspense is well- concealed and the feel-good ending well-done. As two central characters, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman give controlled and polished performances. If you keep hoping against hope, then there is a rainbow waiting for you somewhere- that’s the message of this modern Hollywood classic!