Common Sense Note
Parents should know that the movie is rated R for a reason: The gritty world of Shawshank Prison is populated with sadistic guards, a corrupt warden, and predatory fellow inmates. Two characters have sex (their clothes are on, and it's not graphic), one loveable character hangs himself, guards shoot an inmate and frame it as an escape attempt, inmates attempt and, we are told, succeed in raping Andy, and guards beat and kill an inmate in the opening scenes. But the film also shows inmates forming a loving community of friendship and support despite oppressive conditions.
Families that watch this film may want to discuss the ways oppressed people have kept their spirit historically -- for example, through spirituals created by slaves. How do Andy and Red handle prison differently? How would you handle such a bleak future? Why did Brooks feel more comfortable in prison than out of prison? Why did Andy get Red a harmonica? What did that represent? Why did Red and Andy disagree on whether they should have hope for a better life? Did their class and race affect their approach?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
Call this the Stand By Me of prison stories. Stephen King, who penned Stand by Me, also wrote the short story on which The Shawshank Redemption was based, "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption."
Here we have all the things that made Stand By Me such a satisfying experience: loveable characters, writerly flourishes (what kind of a prison inmate gives direction to a hidden stash by making a reference to the poet Robert Frost?), one-dimensionally evil antagonists, enduring friendships, poetic justice and a happy ending.
Of course, only Stephen King could make the search for a dead body a feel-good event (as in Stand By Me), and he works the same magic on mid-20th century prison life. It's far darker and far more violent than Stand By Me, and because of this, and its nearly hour-and-a-half running time, it ought to be reserved only for older teens. The story is slow to develop, and younger kids and children sensitive to the suffering of others may find this world a difficult one to sit with for the film's duration.
In it, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover, and sent to Shawshank Prison for two life sentences. It's 1949, and Andy doesn't have the stuff for prison life. With Robbins' pasty, dough-boy face, we believe it.
He witnesses and experiences much violence, at the hands of guards and lecherous fellow inmates. Here, the film handles sexuality well. When "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) informs Andy of the menacing "Sisterhood's" reputation for ruthlessness, Andy quips, "Someone should tell them I'm not homosexual." Red answers back that the guys in the Sisterhood aren't homosexual either; it's about power. The issue is treated with respect and put in an understandable context.
Andy's friendship with Red is the enduring theme of the film. They come to rely on one another when they can't rely on anyone else. Soon Andy is using his past as a banker to make an in with the guards. He gets a special job in the prison library; he does the guards' taxes; he gets books donated to the library; he helps a new inmate get his GED. But things unravel. In doing the books for the warden, he learns that the Bible-quoting prison boss is taking bribes, and Andy is to launder them. A loveable former inmate hangs himself when he gets to the outside after decades behind bars and can't adjust. The inmate whom Andy helps get his GED is shot by the guards to keep him quiet about information that might prove Andy is innocent of the murders and set him free.
Andy spends two months in solitary. After he gets out, he seems depressed and Red worries he'll kill himself. The next day, Andy isn't dead, but he isn't there, either. He's escaped. The rest is a perfect Stephen King happy ending, complete with come-uppance for the corrupt warden.
Having said all that, the film is satisfying, but cloying. Andy is the minister of the healing power of hope. He educates the inmates on the healing power of Mozart. He builds a library. He asks Red why he stopped playing the harmonica. When Red replies that it's no use in prison, Andy looks at him soulfully and replies that "here's where you need it the most."
I'm rolling my eyes right out of my head. Could it really be that a white, upper-class, innocent banker is really educating a black man in prison on, to borrow Maya Angelou's famous title, why the caged bird sings? Is that really the enduring lesson of this film? Isn't it slaves who created spirituals to maintain parts of their heritage and their soul during their enslavement?
Pardon me for seeing Shawshank's take as deafeningly anti-historical. And I can't help but wonder if Andy would have this undying optimism if he weren't highly-educated and if he didn't have skills the guards and warden needed.
Still, it's a valuable lesson that will seem inspired to children who haven't heard this story a couple hundred times. Parents may want to discuss this theme with their children. How do you maintain your sense of self in trying or oppressive conditions? How did Red and Andy do it differently? How would you handle it?
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSex between two people is portrayed obliquely at the beginning of the movie. Lots of cheesecake photos decorate the prison walls. |
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ViolenceGraphic scenes of guards beating (and, in one case, killing) inmates, suicide, murder, inmate brawls, threats of male rape, references to such rape. |
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LanguageThe big cuss words are used liberally. |
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Social BehaviorEnduring friendship between a white man and a black man plays a prominent role. Inmates work together, often illegally, to make life more bearable. The warden is corrupt and takes bribes, but it's shown in a negative light. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoA group of inmates enjoy some beers, shown as an escape from their dreary lives. |
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