AFI Top 100 Movies #4: Shawshank Redemption, Redemption of Innocence


Me as the girl on the poster

Me as the girl on the poster

Shawshank Redemption was another movie that was on the list and I got pretty excited about it. I heard that it was a story looking at the perspective of these men that are in prison. I already knew from the beginning the movie was going to include that famous jail break where they would take a sharp object and slowly build themselves a tunnel to get through. In the movie he used a small rock hammer but I thought it was going to be a fork. I know, breaking down a cement wall with a fork is absurd.

I did enjoy Shawshank Redemption, it was a pretty interesting concept and the whole time I was debating about whether or not Andy killed his wife or not. I mostly stuck to him not killing his wife. I enjoyed how we got to see Andy grow with the other men in jail and gain their trust. It was a slow process for Andy but he eventually grew to gain a friendship with those men and especially Ellis. I also found how interesting it was that in the beginning they had the jail men make a bet on which new men would break first. Ellis thought Andy would be the first one to break down crying but Andy stayed brave and held his composure. There was a theme in this, that there is more to a person that meets the eye. You may never expect it out of them but those are some of the best surprises. There was also a lot of symbolism in the movie. The small rock hammer resembled how just a little bit of hope and keeping the faith will take you places.

Something that I heard a lot throughout the movie was Ellis telling Andy multiple times that everyone in that jail was innocent when Andy would tell him he didn’t shoot his wife. It was like saying that everyone in that jail has never done anything they were not supposed to do, but we all know that it meant that people lie about what they may have or did not do just to get out of trouble. Just like how we lie every now and then to stay out of a punishment. But of course parents always know. I feel like if my parents were cops then they would be able to detect the liars quickly. I can never get away with anything in this house so I would like to see the cops try deputies mom and dad.

The thing I didn’t really like about this movie is that it went on forever. Not joking when I tell you that it was about 3 hours or longer! It was a good story at first but then all of a sudden it started getting a bit boring around the middle. As it neared the end it started becoming more interesting. If they were to shorten the time a bit and get rid of scenes that were not as important or entertaining then it would be more enjoyable. Plus I don’t recommend watching this movie late at night because it was kind of hard to concentrate when you were tired and the movie goes on for three hours. I definitely recommend people to watch this movie because it had a really interesting story and I definitely enjoyed it. Just make sure you have enough time to watch it.