Shawshank Redemption Essay About Freedom

Released in 1994, the Columbia Pictures film The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy, who is falsely imprisoned for the murder of his wife and her lover. Yet instead of quietly serving his two life sentences, Andy Dufrense occupies himself with extensive plans for escape. The Shawshank Redemption portrays an intricate and multilayered weave of values and attitudes that are explored using an array of filmic techniques, such as music, voice-overs, plot, camera shot, characterisation and dialogue. By doing this, the director, Frank Darabont, encourages the audience to identify with the central character, Andy, and his attitudes towards hope, determination, friendship, and justice and honesty.

One value expressed in The Shawshank Redemption is that of hope. While Andy firmly believes that hope is a good thing, because it keeps you holding on and it can't be taken from you, Ellis 'Red' Redding disagrees, claiming that, "hope can drive a man insane". Andy however, refuses to be persuaded that hope is indeed as dangerous as Red believes. When Andy plays a Mozart aria over the PA system using a record, the whole of Shawshank comes to a standstill. Red comments as a voice-over, "For the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free". Through the use of music, Darabont is able to convey hope as a positive attitude to the audience, because no matter how long those men had been shut within the walls of Shawshank, or how dire their life was, it was music that gave them hope. Even after two weeks in 'the hole' Andy was still insistent that music was precious, because it brings hope. It is this stubborn belief in the advantages of holding on to hope that the viewer identifies with Andy, and is encouraged to accept his attitudes as their own. Another example of hope as a positive attitude is towards the end of the film, when a voice-over of Andy reads a letter addressed to Red, "Remember Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe even the best of things". It is then