Select a full-length film and identify the title, writer, director, major actors, and the year it was released.
Title: The Shawshank Redemption
Writer: Stephen King, Frank Darabont
Major Actors: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancey Brown
Year: 1994
Summarize the story and plot of your chosen movie.
Mild-mannered banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover. He is sentenced to two life sentences and sent to Shawshank State Prison. Andy finds himself the victim of a harsh warden Samuel Norton(Bob Gunton), heartless prison guard captain Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), and ruthless inmates. Andy is brutally beaten and raped in prison but finds a friend in another inmate Otis ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman).
The film follows Andy’s and Red’s friendship during the course of 18 years while incarcerated. Andy faced many trials, but never gave up hope in what seemed to be a hopeless situation. Even in the face of death and brutality Andy remains hopeful and impresses upon Red the importance of never giving up hope.
Red is the narrator in this movie and gives his perspective on most things and details the story. Andy and Red’s friendship began with a request from Andy for Red (a man who knows how to get things) to obtain a rock hammer. Red is concerned at first that Andy plans to escape, but upon seeing the rock hammer thinks it would take centuries for someone to tunnel under the wall with it.
Andy’s first months at Shawshank are rough but when Andy seeks some form of normalcy behind prison walls by doing a favor for the captain of the guards that things begin to change. This is the first of many “stunts” he pulls that goes against the institutional mindset of the other inmates. It is that relationship which brings Andy to the attention of Warden Norton. Although innocent of the murder charges that originally landed him in prison, Andy finds a way to live in piece within the walls of Shawshank by becoming a money launderer for Warden Norton.
Gaining favor with the Warden and the Captain Andy is able to do good things in Shawshank like creating a library and helping to educate fellow inmates. It is while helping one of these inmates that Andy learns the identity of the man that murdered his wife and her lover. By this point Warden Norton is so dependent on Andy’s skills that there is no way that the Warden will allow Andy to go free.
After the Warden orders the death of the inmate with the information about the real killer (carried out by Capitan Hadley) Andy decides to escape from Shawshank. He does so taking all the money that he has laundered for the Warden as well as delivering information to the authorities about the goings on at Shawshank.
Throughout this all Andy and Red’s friendship have grown and after escaping Andy gives Red one last message of hope about life how life could be on the outside, and how dreams are still possible. Andy extracts a promise from Red which leads to Red having to make the decision about rather to believe in Andy and hope or give in to hopelessness.
Discuss whether your film is presented chronologically or non-linearly.
For the most part the film is chronological with only a few flash backs to past events to make the present situation clear.
How did this aesthetic choice contribute to the general effect on the audience?
By going in chronological order the audience was able to follow Andy and Red and see how time and circumstance shaped and changed both men.
How are elements like character development or foreshadowing impacted by the choice of storytelling methods?
The audience is able to see how the friendship between the two men changes them both for the better. Andy learns how to survive and Red learns the enduring power of hope. Time becomes relative in regards to the rock hammer as what seems like forever really is not. The powerful lines in the movie like “I guess it comes down to a simple choice really: get busy living or get busy dying.” Foreshadow what the audience realizes will be a life or death decision.
If the film had followed a different presentation style, how would the general effect on the audience have been different?
If the movie had been told in as a flashback then all of the foreshadowing and symbolism would have been lost as the audience would have known what would have ultimately happened to the main characters.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGfAj9ZJymo
The Shawshank Redemption. (1994). Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption
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