The Shawshank Redemption scored 9.7 on Douban and won the 67th Academy Awards in 1995, and was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Film Register in 2015 for "remarkable achievements in culture, history, and aesthetics."
It is adapted from the novella of American writer Stephen Edwin King, which tells the story of Andy, who was framed by a lawyer to carry someone else on the charge of "homicide", entered a prison called Shawshank, saw a lot of darkness in prison for twenty years, and finally escaped from prison.
In the film, Shawshank is not only a prison for people, but more like a wall that people have built for themselves in real life, people have adapted to life inside the wall, and even mixed up, rather than longing, they are more afraid of the world outside the wall.
Isn't this a self-confrontation about hope and sinking?
Below, I will analyze and interpret the film one by one from the three main characters of the film.
Andy, a successful, upright banker at the top of society, transformed into a criminal at the bottom of society, not even a human being, was imprisoned in Shawshank Prison for "complete reform."
When he first entered prison, he was targeted by the "Sister Gang" and was constantly beaten and raped by them. The repeated injuries did not make him obey the "sister gang", and in order to resist, he resisted again and again, and was injured again and again.
After the "Sister Gang" left, his life was a little better, and later because of the special financial skills of the "banker", he continued to provide advice and help for the prison guards, and even helped the warden to make false accounts to make money, he became busier and busier, and his life became better and better.
But the smooth sailing didn't give up hope, and he continued to dig the escape cave with a small hammer while using his skills to find hope for the other inmates.
For six consecutive years, he wrote to the government every day asking for funding, expanded the prison library, and was still dissatisfied when he first received the funding fee and the old books donated by the library, did not achieve his goal, continued to write two letters to the government every day, and finally successfully expanded the library, helping many prisoners get high Chinese.
After he knew the fact that he had entered the prison, the warden instead locked him in a small black room and killed half of his students, he looked at the dug cave, made a precise plan, feared more than 500 miles of sewage pipes, escaped from the prison, and at the moment of escape, he opened his arms and let the rain wash away, he knew, he was free!
There is a sentence in the film that is the evaluation of Andy by his friend Red, who says:
"There is a bird that cannot be shut down, and every feather of it is sprinkled with the radiance of freedom."
Andy longs for freedom, and although he is in prison and trapped by high walls, his heart is still free, and he still longs for his body to be free. Having hope gave him twenty years of unmoving fortitude and made his mind stronger.
After watching Lao Bu's experience, while feeling sorry for him, I can't help but make people reflect on their current state.
Lao Bu spent fifty years in prison before he was approved to return to society, which was a happy thing, but he did not want to go back, he worked as a librarian in prison, leisurely every day, as long as he obeyed the order, there was nothing else.
He had adapted to life in prison and, in Red's words, had been "completely transformed", and he could not imagine what it would be like to return to society.
So, when he first learned the news, he took a knife and tried to kill the other inmates, hoping to commit another crime and return to prison.
After returning to society, he was shocked by the changes in society, and when he first went to prison, a car was already very ugly, and now the traffic on the road is continuous.
Later, because of his work, he was scolded by the manager, slept soundly every night, was awakened by nightmares, and he tried to kill the annoying manager every day and go home again. He had subconsciously seen Shawshank Prison as his home.
In the end, he committed suicide.
In Lao Bu's life, the youth was imprisoned, and he was released from prison in his old age, and he chose to commit suicide within a few days to say goodbye to the world. He has been surrounded by the high wall of Shawshank Prison all his life, even if the body goes out of the wall, the heart is still bound, he misses the prison days he adapted to, and after being forced out of the "comfort zone", he does not accept, does not change, and will inevitably perish.
It's a bit ridiculous, but in my opinion, the biggest protagonist of this film should be Red, who is like every audience in front of the screen, ordinary, like an old cloth in the early stage, in the prison mixed up, like a fish, watching Andy's twenty-year escape road, taking the hope given by Andy, and bravely taking a step towards freedom.
Red was not allowed to return to society several times, from the initial hope to the final numbness, before Andy left, telling him to make him promise that when he was released from prison, he would definitely go under the marriage proposal tree with his wife to find what he had buried there.
After 40 years of waiting, Red was finally approved to return to society, and coincidentally, he moved into the same room where Old Boo was staying.
Red, like Lao Bu, walked out of the wall, unaccustomed to the outside world, and longed to return to prison several times. He had developed the habit of reporting peeing, and if he didn't report it, he wouldn't be able to urinate a drop.
But because of his promise to Andy, he chose to go the other way, he went to the place Where Andy said, dug out a box containing a letter and some money, which was a message from Andy to him:
"Since you've walked out, you might as well go any further."
Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best. And, the good never goes away.
I hope this letter finds you and you are safe and sound. Your friend, Andy. ”
Red looked up and smiled as he got into the car and crossed the ocean to meet Andy. Sitting in the car, he was extremely excited and excited, both because of the imminent reunion with friends and because of the freedom he was driving towards.
There is hope is the most beautiful thing, Red finally chose to bravely break free of the Shawshank wall, he is the biggest protagonist, admonishing us ordinary people, embrace hope, to bravely go out of the wall.
As Andy used to say in the film:
"Life boils down to a simple choice: to be busy surviving or to die."
Author Stephen Edwin King also said:
"Everyone is their own God. If you gave up on yourself, who else would save you?
Everyone is busy, some are busy living, some are busy dying.
You are busy chasing fame and profit, busy with chai rice oil and salt, stop and think for a second: Has your brain been institutionalized? Where is your God? ”
Life and work, have you been institutionalized?