“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies,” is a glorious quote that sums up the film The Shawshank Redemption. It is a drama crime released in 1994, originally based on the 1982 novella by Stephen King Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. In the above quote, a mesmerizing perspective paints a remarkable picture of how these words are translated through the scenes of the movie. The movie is a hypnotizing scope filled with the emergence of the personal independence of the characters throughout the entire plot.  

This movie is amazing yet simple in its script. It evokes a sense of darkness in its scenes that unravel the truthfulness of the characters starring in it. Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, John Sandler, and Clancy Brown play an amazing performance; in addition to that, director Frank Darabont was capable of developing great tropes and relationships between the characters, namely the relationship between Andy and Red. At the beginning of the movie when Andy first joined prison, he communicated with no one, but after two months, he approaches Red. Then, their friendship develops slowly through gestures, for example when Red gets his parole rejected, Andy gets him a “rejection present.”

The Shawshank Redemption is an astounding tale that tackles the life of its characters inside a prison. It reflects how people can gather hope and lose it in an instant. The movie is narrated from the perspective of Red. It begins with a mind-blowing scene that befuddles the viewers and their expectations. A former banker named Andy Duphrane is wrongfully convicted of killing his wife and her lover and is immediately sent to the Shawshank prison. After this scene, the whole plot unfolds itself when Andy enters prison and the other characters are introduced to the viewers. The movie as a whole is structured around how people perceive Andy from his arrival until the very end and how he plays a vital role in sharing wisdom through simple scenes and heart-touching messages that would undoubtedly stick to anyone’s mind. During the scene when he was talking to the prisoners, he was explaining to them that freedom does not necessarily come from stepping outside the prison, but it is something that should come from within. He created a paradigm shift for other prisoners to think differently and establish their own definition of freedom within their confinement.

Andy appears at the beginning of the movie to be cold and distant but as the scenes go by, his character shows compassion, especially because he does not give up on his dreams of living a free life outside prison. Additionally, he bewilders the viewers and the prisoners with his uplifting spirit that is so unusual in that setting, unlike his fellow prisoners who limit their capabilities to either living their life freely out of prison or dying inside the trapped walls. He transforms the place through spreading his personal independent growth by accomplishing different tasks throughout his scenes. 

Andy spread so much hope throughout the movie and showed an important motif he carried: to never lose faith when facing any obstacle. For example, whenever Red went to the parole and got rejected, Andy would proceed to reassure him that he will surely be out in due time and that justice would take place in his path someday. The ending of this movie is spectacular and unconventional; it is the type of movie that pushes you to establish self-growth as it reminds you to look furthermore within yourself and reassess your life choices. 

Many movies that we encounter play a vital role in our lives especially in being a point of conversation, this movie definitely plays the same role. It can be considered to be one of the greatest movies that I’ve seen. The Shawshank Redemption received a 9.3/10 IMDb rate from over 2 million reviewers. As the famous saying goes, old is gold, and this movie is definitely the finest gold that one could ever perceive in their lifetime.