The Shawshank Redemption

Details

Andy Dufresne is a quiet, successful banker whose comfortable life comes to an abrupt end when his wife and her lover are found murdered. Although Andy continues to protest his innocence, the evidence against him is enough to secure a conviction and he is sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank prison.

Arriving amongst a fresh intake of prisoners, Andy immediately attracts the attention of Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, a long-term inmate with a reputation for being able to obtain almost anything from the outside world. Red takes one look at the reserved newcomer and bets that he'll be the first of the new arrivals to crack under the pressure of prison life.

Andy proves considerably more resilient than Red expects. Life inside Shawshank is brutal and the new prisoner rapidly discovers that danger can come from both sides of the bars. Captain Hadley and his guards maintain order through violence, whilst a group of inmates led by Bogs Diamond take an unwelcome interest in Andy.

Despite everything thrown at him, Andy quietly adapts to life inside and gradually develops a friendship with Red. His first request is for a small rock hammer, supposedly to continue his interest in geology, followed later by a large poster of actress Rita Hayworth to brighten the wall of his cell.

Andy's background in banking eventually proves useful when he overhears Captain Hadley complaining about the tax implications of an inheritance. Andy offers him some financial advice and before long finds himself completing tax returns for the guards, a considerably more comfortable occupation than his previous prison duties.

His abilities also attract the attention of Warden Samuel Norton, who moves Andy into the prison library alongside elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. Andy begins writing to the authorities requesting funds to improve the neglected library and, with little else to occupy his time, continues writing until they finally give in.

However, Norton's interest in Andy's financial skills isn't entirely innocent. The Warden is making a considerable amount of money from Shawshank's prison labour programme and needs somebody capable of hiding where that money is going. Andy finds himself laundering the proceeds through a series of accounts created under the name of a person who doesn't actually exist.

Years pass and Andy settles into the peculiar routine of prison life, but his insistence that he didn't murder his wife never changes. Then a young prisoner named Tommy arrives at Shawshank and tells Andy something that could potentially prove his innocence.

Unfortunately for Andy, the possibility of his release presents Warden Norton with a serious problem. Andy knows far too much about the Warden's financial activities to simply walk out of Shawshank, and Norton has no intention of losing the man responsible for keeping his secrets safely hidden.

With any hope of achieving his freedom through the legal system apparently removed, Andy is forced to contemplate what remains to him after nearly twenty years behind the walls of Shawshank.

Picture & Sound

The picture transfer is generally good, with a respectable average bitrate throughout the film, although the image can occasionally appear a little grainy. Dark interiors and nighttime sequences are handled particularly well, retaining plenty of detail without disappearing into murky blacks.

The deliberately subdued colour palette is also reproduced nicely. Rather than presenting Shawshank with bright, saturated colours, the image has a suitably pale and slightly oppressive appearance that complements both the prison environment and the period setting.

There are occasional splashes of stronger colour, particularly when the story briefly escapes the grey walls and uniforms of the prison, and these provide an effective contrast with the deliberately restrained appearance of the majority of the film.

Unfortunately, my copy appeared to suffer from several serious picture dropouts. I'm not sure whether this is a mastering problem or simply a fault with the particular disc reviewed here, so it's difficult to criticise the transfer itself too heavily for them. Nevertheless, they were certainly noticeable.

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Pro Logic rather than the newly remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 mix available elsewhere. That's rather disappointing because there are several moments where the film could clearly have benefited from the additional separation and atmosphere provided by a discrete surround mix.

What we have is handled well enough. Dialogue is always clear and firmly positioned, which is particularly important given the amount of narration from Morgan Freeman, whilst Thomas Newman's excellent score has a pleasing amount of presence across the front soundstage.

Surround activity is fairly restrained, although that's hardly disastrous for a dialogue-driven drama such as this. The everyday sounds of Shawshank provide some atmosphere, but I couldn't help wondering how much more convincing the prison environment might have sounded with the remastered 5.1 soundtrack.

Menu & Extras

There's very little to get excited about here. The disc reviewed is the Dutch Region 2 edition and the menu system is a basic static affair presented entirely in Dutch.

Obviously, criticising a Dutch DVD because its menus are in Dutch would be rather unreasonable, so we'll forgive it that one!

Unfortunately, the lack of supplementary material is considerably harder to forgive. Apart from the theatrical trailer there's effectively nothing here to accompany the film.

Considering the quality of the film, its seven Academy Award nominations and the performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, there's surely an enormous amount of material that could have been assembled. Interviews with the cast, a discussion with director Frank Darabont or Stephen King, deleted scenes and a proper making-of documentary would all have been welcome.

Instead we get the film and a trailer. Hardly the treatment such a superb movie deserves.

Overall

It turns out Stephen King's mind isn't quite as warped as we'd all thought. He's actually managed to produce a story without anything supernatural happening, an axe-wielding lunatic wandering around or something particularly unpleasant lurking underneath the floorboards.

More importantly, it's a bloody good story.

At two hours and fifteen minutes The Shawshank Redemption isn't exactly a short film, yet you'll hardly notice the running time. Rather than hurtling from one major event to another, the film takes its time and gradually draws you into the lives of Andy, Red and the other inmates. Before you know it, years have passed inside Shawshank and you've barely noticed them going by.

That's one of the cleverest things about the film. Prison isn't presented simply as a succession of fights, escape attempts and evil guards. Much of the punishment comes from routine. Days become months, months become years and eventually the outside world becomes something some of the prisoners can barely remember.

James Whitmore's Brooks provides probably the most heartbreaking example. After spending most of his life inside Shawshank, the prospect of finally being released should be something to celebrate. Instead, the prison has become the only world he understands.

His experience gives real meaning to Red's description of becoming "institutionalised". First you hate the walls, then you get used to them and eventually you depend on them. It's a frightening idea and one the film handles without needing to hammer the point home.

Andy is different. Despite everything that happens to him, some small part of him refuses to accept that Shawshank is all that's left of his life. That stubborn refusal to surrender is really what the entire film is about.

Tim Robbins is superb because Andy is such a restrained character. He rarely tells anybody exactly what he's thinking and often seems almost detached from the brutality surrounding him. Yet underneath that quiet exterior there's a remarkable amount of determination.

Morgan Freeman is every bit as good as Red. His wonderfully relaxed voice-over guides us through the years without ever becoming intrusive and gives the film much of its warmth and humour. Freeman can communicate more with a slightly raised eyebrow and a few carefully chosen words than many actors manage with an entire speech.

The friendship between Andy and Red is the heart of the film. It isn't forced or sentimental and there's no single moment where they suddenly become best friends. It simply develops over years of shared experiences until you realise that each has become enormously important to the other.

The supporting cast is equally impressive. Bob Gunton makes Warden Norton particularly unpleasant because he hides his corruption behind religion and respectability. He can quote the Bible whilst simultaneously exploiting the prisoners and lining his own pockets without apparently recognising any contradiction whatsoever.

Clancy Brown's Captain Hadley is rather less subtle. He's a brutal thug with a uniform and seemingly very little concern about whether the prisoners under his control survive his attempts to discipline them.

Yet the film never becomes completely miserable. There are numerous moments of humour and, more importantly, occasional glimpses of freedom that become enormously powerful precisely because the characters spend so much of their lives confined.

Andy's decision to play Mozart over the prison loudspeakers is a perfect example. For a few moments every prisoner in the yard simply stops and listens. It achieves absolutely nothing practical and earns Andy a spell in solitary confinement, yet for those few minutes the walls of Shawshank somehow seem slightly less important.

Likewise, watching a group of convicted criminals sitting on a prison roof drinking beer shouldn't be particularly moving, but somehow it is. Andy doesn't even drink one himself. He simply sits in the shade with a strange little smile on his face, having managed to make his fellow prisoners feel like ordinary men again for a few minutes.

The film's final half hour is where everything really comes together. Details that initially appeared insignificant suddenly become important and several events take on a completely different meaning. It's one of those rare endings that manages to surprise you whilst simultaneously making you realise that the clues were sitting in front of you all along.

I certainly don't want to explain those twists here because anyone fortunate enough to be watching the film for the first time deserves to discover them for themselves.

What I will say is that the payoff is enormously, and emotionally, satisfying.

I also prefer this to King's other prison epic, The Green Mile. That's certainly another excellent film, but Shawshank feels less manipulative and its central story of friendship and hope has considerably more impact for me.

It's hardly surprising that the film received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Morgan Freeman and Best Adapted Screenplay. The surprising part is that it didn't actually win any of them.

Unfortunately, this particular DVD isn't remotely in the same league as the film. The picture is generally respectable and the Pro Logic soundtrack does its job, but the lack of the remastered 5.1 mix and virtually complete absence of extras make this a disappointingly basic release.

But whilst I'd happily replace the DVD with a better edition, I wouldn't hesitate for a second about recommending the film.

The Shawshank Redemption is beautifully acted, brilliantly written and one of those rare films that can comfortably justify its lengthy running time. It's about friendship, institutionalisation and the ability to retain some hope when practically everything around you suggests there isn't any.

If you've somehow managed to avoid seeing it, rectify that immediately.

The disc may be ordinary. The film certainly isn't.

Special features

• Theatrical Trailer