As it is well known the plot of this brilliant movie is based on Steven King’s story which he created in abundance. Unlike most of his thrilling and head-breaking works, Shawshank Redemption is not so mystique and fearsome, however, it creates a great deal of intrigue and action. As most of the Kings’ works movie versification show it is really difficult to maintain the author’s plot and narration brilliance, however, in our view Darabont managed to do this (Debra L. Lewis, 1994).
The film narrates the story about Andy who is thrown into prison for the alleged killing of his wife and her lover, which he did not commit. He is sentenced to two life-long imprisonments and faces the ugly perspective of spending all his life in prison.
In prison, he meets Red who is respected by the prisoners and soon becomes his friend. However, Andy does not escape brutal assaults from prison’s junta with ‘Sisters’. Andy gets used to life and prison and finds an opportunity to realize his hobby of collecting rocks.
The prison’s authorities soon found out that Andy is a well-educated man who is professional in writing juridical documents and can work in the library. They decided to capitalize on him and use his talents. The other side of the coin is that close links to the prison’s authorities resulted in stopping violent assaults as his security was protected. The days, months, and years passed and nothing happened. Andy got used to life in prison and could not imagine it without his daily habits and timetable.
His friend Red continued to supply prisoners with food, cigarettes, posters, and other ‘helpful’ materials. One of the posters’ presented by Red, Andy hangs on the wall near his bed. It was the poster of Marylyn Monroe.
However, the usual daily routine was broken by the information that Andy received from one of the new prisoners that told Andy that the cellmate boasted about killing a man and woman in a situation similar to Andy’s allegations. This information made Andy start searching for possibilities for revisiting his case but this was met by an angry reaction by prison’s authorities who decided to kill Andy.
But they did not have much time to do this, because the next day nobody could find Andy in the cell. Occasionally somebody looked behind the Marylyn Monroe and saw a big hole in the wall through which Andy fled. The film ends with a flashback showing Red and Andy spending their time in freedom (Kellard, 2000).
Among the advantages of Darabant’s movie, one should mention strict correspondence with the intriguing and thrilling plot created by Steven King. Darabant managed to maintain only the most important features of the plot and make them look intact in the movie scenario. This helped maintain the integrity of the writer’s ideas and reinstall them in new cinematograph integrity. The development of the plot is very exciting with all episodes having sense and coherence.
Notwithstanding all these positive moments of Darabant film, one should point to essential drawbacks among which is an uneven play of the actors among which some can not be characterized as talented. Some important elements were spoilt because of a lack of emotion and artistic capacities. Nevertheless, to top it all the film can be recommended for the watch because it should be considered as one of the best attempts in the thrillers genre.
References
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – Trivia. Imdb. 2008. Web.
Kellard, Joseph. (2000) Get Busy Living, or Get Busy Dying: A Review of “The Shawshank Redemption. Capitalism Magazine.
Debra L. Lewis (1994). Review: The Shawshank Redemption. 2008. Web.