A movie that's been on my 'want to see, but didn't have it in me' list for a while now. A movie entirely inside jail. Harsh....violent...not my kind at all, is what I'd thought. My threshold for violence is extremely low, and I stay away from anything even remotely violent, so though strongly recommended, took me long long to get to.
I watched in three tranches. At one point I even gave up, but picked it up again the next day. It didn't feel like a movie, it seemed to just draw me into the life in prison, not just because its all within the walls of a prison, but because of Red's (Morgan Freeman) narrative, which was one of the best voice over's I've seen. It was like experiencing prison life from the inside; no melodrama or gore.... but the tedium, dread and underlying ruthlessness.
Andy Dufresne (Tim Robins) is a successful banker, arrested for the murder of his wife and her lover, and sentenced to two life imprisonments. While Andy is the protagonist, we see the movie through Red's perspective, and we have no clue what's going on within Andy's mind, not even if he actually committed the murders. Maybe that's why we get curious about him, go through pity, pain, wonder and admiration...........and are left to wonder what makes him tick...... how does he walk in jail like he's on a stroll in the park, where does he get that steely determination from, where does the strength come from.
The film is long, and guess it's intended....a slow slow passage of time....we see Red coming up for parole after 20 years, 30 years and then 40 years; the first time his effort at appealing for rehabilitation, the second time just going through the motions, and the third time he seems to not care.
His line...'these walls are funny, first you hate them, then you get used to them.... and then you're dependent on them..and know no other way to live, that's when you get institutionalized, '
You'd think it's a depressing story...all inside the prison walls, dull drab and grey...but it's not. It's got life and even humor, and some epiphanic moments. Two that really stayed with me... one when the quiet non rebellious Andy, finds an lp record in a book carton, shuts himself in the warden's room, and regardless of consequences plays Mozart on the announcement system, and how it envelopes and captures the entire prison. Red says, it enabled moments of soaring and freedom that the men hadn't experienced in years. It does something deep within you.
Another, when in return for some tax work done for the warden, Andy asks for beer for his coworkers and this group of prisoners drink beer, with sunshine on their faces, and he sits back and enjoys the moment with that slight, intriguing smile on the corner of his lips and you feel the moment with him.
A movie of such depth, that it's hard to find the right words. I could say of resilience, of hope, of commitment, of friendship, of integrity, of patience, of courage, of life.... it's all there...a movie that I'd say is really philosophical, and maybe even spiritual.
Welcome to the Club..one of my all time fav movies..
ReplyDelete"....I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."