The Shawshank Redemption

The film, The Shawshank Redemption is an American film produced in 1994 based on the novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption written by Stephen King. The film revolves around Andy Dufresne, a banker who is sentenced to the Shawshank State Prison for the murder of two people; his wife and a lover. Despite pleading his innocence, he is sentenced to life in the prison mentioned above. In jail, he makes new friends and through his experiences he learns more about what life entails. Together, with his friends, he gets involved in a money laundering scheme at the prison. Fortunately enough for him, he manages to get out of prison after spending nineteen years behind bars.

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While in prison, Andy meets a guy named Red, who is well connected and has access to contraband from outside which he in turn sells to inmates. To facilitate his escape plan, he asks Red to get him a rock hammer to sustain his hobby of rock collection. Later on, he requests for a Rita Hayworth full-size poster. Andy eavesdrops and overhears Byron Hadley, who happens to be the Captain of the Guards, complain about having to remit taxes on a forthcoming inheritance. With his expertise in the tax field, he risks getting punished for advising the captain on loopholes of tax evasion. In return, the captain rewards Andy and his friends with beer and brief respite.

Soon enough, word of Andys accountancy knowledge spreads and guards from his and other prisons seek financial advice from him. Consequentially, the guards disguise Andy as personal library maintainer whereas in real sense he works on financial issues of the former. Warden Norton invents a scheme to use the prison library for personal gains. He undercuts the cost of skilled labor and at the same time receives kickbacks from those described above. The warden ensures Andy maintains the library and keeps his private cell on condition that Andy launders money for him under false pretense. The outside world becomes difficult for inmates like Brook to adapt, who after being released hangs himself. In 1956, Tommy Williams was convicted for robbery charges and incarcerated in Shawshank State Prison. Andy and Tommy become friends where Andy helps Tommy get his GED. Tommy reveals to Andy that one of his old prison mates, Elmo Batch confessed to having murdered Andys wife and his lover. Shortly after that, Andy tells Red about his dream of living in Zihuatanejo and instructs him that should he be released one day, he ought to visit Buxton, Maine to retrieve something he had left in that place. The following day during roll call hour, Andy is marked as missing from his cell. In rage, Norton throws one of Andys rocks to the Welch poster on the wall. The stone goes through the poster exposing a large opening Andy had been digging for a long time and used it as an escape route out of Shawshank. Andy manages to escape with his chess set, a set of civilian attire and the book he had reserved for Norton. Subsequently, Andy simultaneously goes to the bank and withdraws all of Nortons money using a fake identity and sends evidence of Nortons corrupt ways to a local newspaper. Immediately, the story is out of the press, police arrest Hardley while Norton commits suicide. After serving 40 years of his sentence, Red is granted parole and works at the same grocery as Brooks before he committed suicide. Similarly, he lives in the exact apartment Brooks lived before his suicide. Red then makes up his mind and follows Andys advice of visiting Buxton. While there, he coincidentally comes across Andy by the coast and the two happily reunite.

The film is characterized by masterful attractiveness and clarity of events as they unfold. The film with all its unique qualities is attributed as one of Stephen Kings best.