Abstract: This film Shawshank Redemption describes a man called Andy Dufresne was sent to the prison for he murdered his wife but in fact he was innocent. Then he started fighting against with the wicked prison life. Though he suffered many unfair treatments and ordeals, he never gives up himself. Due to his intelligence and perseverance, he spend 20 years successfully escape from the prison as a redemption. He teaches me that never lose hope.
Keywords: hope; redemption; freedom; dream
The story took place in 1940. A man who is a banker called Andy Dufresne, was sent into the Shawshank prison, for he murderer his wife and her lover in bed. However, he was innocent as he said. The new days in the prison were hard to live. It』s violent, heartless and cruel. Nevertheless, A month later, Andy began to make friends with other prisoners. And one of them called Red, who could get anything what he wanted. Andy bought a mallet from him and started his plan to escape. During this time, he did many things: expanding the library, caving stones, helping the corrupt warden to get money or bribe, etc. Then a young prisoner』s coming break his quiet life in jail. But the warden killed the young prisoner the only man that knew Andy was innocent. Then he knew the prison he could not stay any more. It took him 20 years to tunnel secretly and he successfully escaped from the prison. When he got free, Andy sent the evident which could prove the warden corruption, briber and murdering to the policy agency. Before that, Andy had told his best friend Red that his dream---Zihuatanejo, a warm place without memory. After escaping, Andy lived a free life in another identity and made the prison governor arrested. Several years later, Red was approved to leave. for the promise to Andy. Finally, in Zihuyatanejo, they met.
The cruel prison life terrified me and the friendship moved me. The story goes to a happy ending---redemption. This film impressed me a lot. A sentence was said in the film: 』Some birds aren't meant to be caged, but most birds will choose to stand it.』
In this film, as we can see, the Shawshank Prison, which enjails lots of people. They have been in the prison form many years ,so they won』t go abroad. Because they won』t and also they can』t. They lived here for years without hope, and they lived just in the small prison, where nobody knows what is their dream and what』s their hope. As I remember, a old man Brooks was released after he had been in the jail for 50 years. But he found that the world became completely different from the world he imagined. For example, he seldom see cars before. He felt very strange and helpless to the outside world He can hardly adapt to the new developed world. He would rather stay in the prison. So unfortunately he chose to commit suicide.
However, on the contrary, Andy said a converse sentence:』 Some birds aren't meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are just too bright…』 He long for the freedom and strive for it! What I remember very clearly is someone said that 「These walls are kind of funny things like that. First, you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passed, get so you depend on them. That is institutionalizing.」 But Andy hadn』t been affected. He insisted on his faith of freedom. He dared to pursue his deserved freedom! That』s the first point I appreciate.
What』s more, another thing I think is friendship. Of course, Andy』s perseverance and endeavor is the main reason that he succeed in escaping. But it can』t be denying that friendship is also a important reason. Without the friends』 help in the prison, especially red』s, He can』t break the prison, too. Even in the jail which is the most evil place that Andy could make it a significance place. He had transformed a storage room smelling of turpentine into the best prison library in New England. Then the prisoners read the books and got knowledge from it. Andy also helped them to pass the high school equivalency. The glitters of him lighted others』 life. That helps him built many sincere friendships in the prison. He just too bright that didn』t belong to the prison .Then he escape and gained the freedom.
Furthermore, the patience, courage and strong willpower are the keys to escape. 20 years, not a short ordeal time, but he endured. He made his plan day by day, week by week and year by year. He never gives up. he took nearly twenty years to dip a tunnel with a little rock hammer which Red said it would take a man 600 years to tunnel under the wall with one of these to fight for his free .And he did it finally. Please imagine, crossing the tunnel he dup, he still should crawled through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness. That is the length of five football fields.
Then is the last but not least, I think. He has the bright brain ,the never fading persistent, and the most important thing----hope. Just as Andy said to Red: Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things. In this film, Andy show us that how good thing the hope is. Yes , hope is a good thing. Whatever it is, it can』t lock the hope. We all have dream. We all have hope. We all have it and please never give up, like Andy.
This film, Shawshank Redemption, teaches me a lot. It deserves to be one of the most overwhelming films in the Hollywood.