On a ultra lazy weekend (? Saturday morning) one of my laziest mates strolled in to my open room with a glimmer of hope of finding ways to while away his time by fiddling with my computer? As soon as I came back (after brushing my teeth with that 12 ’o clock sun glaring at the late riser..!!!) I started barking at my friends unwanted presence?
He by the way has got used to this regular tone of mine as soon as I see him (he doesn?t seem to ever understand that I am serious). He plainly said ?Koi movie hai kya????? ? I said ?Haan ! Kal hi ?Tarantino ka Pulp? (reference to Pulp Fiction) digest karne ki kosish kar raha tha ? chahiye to le jaaa?.?.
He then said ?Hey guess what? I have downloaded Shawshank? wanna gimme company????? . That did it? ?So much so for u and ur IMDB? said I and threw him out of the room. I then realized that without him it was a much more boring Saturday morning? So I called him back and asked him to turn his computer on so that I could download Shawshank on mine?
To tell you the truth these IMDB guys have never had it right for me? but still I simply said to myself?.?This must be different? After all it was number 2 on the list? Hope for the best buddy!!!? Least realizing that the last line of mine was to be the basic crux of the cinematic experience I was about to witness.
?Welcome to Shawshank?
The movie opens with a court scene where we see Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) being prosecuted for the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy looks seemingly innocent but due to lack of evidence the judge orders him to serve two life sentences back to back. He is then sent to Shawshank Prison. The next scene shows a parole hearing board and the character Ellis ?Red? Redding (Morgan Freeman) being introduced. Red?s appeal is rejected and then Red goes into voice-over which is one of the most engrossing parts of the movie?. Freeman?s voice is great both on and off screen and contributes to holding the film together.
The film starts progressing through the thicks and thins that Andy comes to face in prison? He befriends Red along the way but also finds enemies in Bogs and the Sisters. He asks Red to smuggle a miniature rock hammer into the prison for him so that he can continue his passion for rock carving. As Red puts it ?In a prison one will do almost anything to keep his mind occupied.?
He also helps out Hadley (the prison captain Clancy Brown) to sort out a legacy case and helps him avoid a lot of tax due to his financial wit. The warden, Norton (Bob Gunton), therefore signs him up to his office and he is relieved of prison jobs. He starts keeping books for the warden and through this is able to build a library and also help a few guys to their high school equivalencies. He also asks Red to smuggle Rita Hayworth into the prison. Many a time he steps overboard and has to pay for his overlooking the fact that after all he is a prisoner? A man who Red expected would be blown away by a stiff breeze weathers all the storms that come his way and becomes one of the most popular character in the prison.
He is shown maturing as a prisoner and helps the newbies to adjust to prison life along the way and also keeps telling Red about not losing hope. Red on the other had feels that he is as institutional as another lifer Brooks Hatlen was. And that he will also not be able to make it on the outside and die just like Hatlen hung himself. Red is a type of man who believes that he is the only guilty one in Shawshank.
Red’s character is also shown maturing side by side and every scene is most importantly seen through his eyes as it is him who provides a powerful voice over to an otherwise listless scene... He stays as the life line of the movie and the movie only benefits from this angle and the second angle of the line of friendship it draws between the two characters. ’’Prison life consisted routine and then more routine’’. But Andy showed that if one had the will to change something... It would definitely change some day or another... The movie gushes through 18 years of Andy’s prison life and it seems a memory that one has lived through.....
Suddenly the screen in front of me froze... ’’What the hell??????’’ said I ’’What’s wrong with you maan??’’... My friend replied ...’’Lets go for lunch or else we’ll miss it...’’ I retorted... ’’Gimme the keyboard... Lunch goes to hell... We’ll have it outside...!’’ So much so for that mess and this idiot is what I was thinking.....
Enter Roby Williams into the scene... Roby is a young boy just in his teens comes to Shawshank on a two year stretch for stealing television sets from the back door of the JC Penny’s... He also seems to have a young daughter and a wife... Therefore he decides to ask Andy to help him through his high school equivalency... But at the end of it becomes despondent and feels that he wont pass the exam...
Through a series of events he reveals to Andy and Red what was almost clear to the audience by then.... Andy is innocent... Andy pleads to the warden to allow him to get a new trial but the warden gets angry and sends him into solitary confinement and also has Roby shot by Hadley...
The movie from here on is best seen on screen.....
Remember ’’Hope is the best of good things ... And No Good Thing ever dies’’ and also believing the IMDB ratings for once did not dissapoint me at all.