A detailed analysis of the film “Shawshank Redemption”

The main injustice shown is that which occurs inside the prison, and not performed by the prisoners themselves. Prisons are the endpoint of our society’s justice system. A person is convicted of a crime then they are punished for the crime by being sent to prison. Justice is applied. The purpose of being sent to prison is so the person can be punished for their crime and also to be redeemed, to be restored to uniform citizens again. How is a prisoner meant to be redeemed if the prison and the people in charge of their redemption are committing crimes?

The guards beat the prisoners within an inch of their life and sometimes an inch ended their life. Mr. Norton, the Warden, commits crime in laundering dirty money he receives, by using Andy, a convicted murderer, to assist him in hiding this. The main injustice shown however is when Tommy is shot, simply for trying to help Andy out of jail, lawfully. This would however put Mr.. North’s secrets in jeopardy. In prison, Andy meets a man named Ellis Redding. Red, as he was called, was a tall, dark skinned man and he was known for his ability to obtain things in prison. Cigarettes, a bag of reefer if that was your thing, a bottle of brandy to celebrate our kid’s high school graduation, damn near anything within reason”. When Red meets Andy he says he “could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn’t normal around there. He strolled. Like a man in the park without a care or worry in the world. Like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. ” In prison, people would do anything to keep themselves from going insane, some collected stamps, Andy purchased a rock hammer through Red to shape and polish rocks.

While doing some work, Andy overheard a guard complaining of financial problems. After Andy gave this guard the advice he needed, many of the guards started to come to him for advice and taxation purposes, including the prison warden, Mr. Norton. When introduced to Norton we are given the impression he is a cold hard and remorseless man who believes in two things, discipline and The Bible. As time passes, Andy is made responsible for hiding the river of dirty money flowing through Shawano. This is a role which makes him both valuable and dangerous for Mr. Norton.

In exchange for this Andy is allowed to rebuild a bigger and better library for the prison and is taken away from the dirty clothes washing work. Andy is allowed things other prisoners are not. For example the large poster on his cell wall featuring his “fantasy girls” as Red calls them. This proves to be a major asset to him. This poster is hiding the gaping hole in Anta’s cell wall which he is continually lengthening to escape from Shawano. He eventually does escape in 1966 after being wrongfully imprisoned for nineteen years. In 1965, a young man named Tommy was admitted to Shawano.

Tommy is a fun and cocky man who is not ashamed of his crimes. He talks of them openly and jokes about them in a way that makes people laugh. Tommy also has a wife and a 4 year old girl waiting for him on the outside. Andy, Red and the gang liked him immediately. Andy helps Tommy to achieve his high school diploma. When Tommy is told of what Andy was convicted of, Tommy tells Andy that he knows that he is innocent and he knows who killed his wife and her lover. Andy immediately goes to Norton to tell him of the news and to try to get a new trial with Tommy’s evidence.

Norton tries to convince Andy that Tommy is just making up stories in order to gain his mentor’s respect but Andy refuses to accept this. Andy is sentenced to a month in solitary confinement for refusing to accept North’s word. While Andy was in “The Hole”, Norton asks to speak with Tommy about the topic. This is the scene where Tommy goes to meet Norton. In order to have success in a trial, you need evidence to prove your point. In this case, Tommy was ‘the evidence’, so in order to keep Andy in prison for future money scams Norton, kills Tommy which exemplifies injustice towards Andy.

There are effective uses of camera angles in this scene. As Tommy is walking out to meet Norton, Tommy is shown through a wired fence which shows him as a person whose life is controlled and enclosed to a certain place. When Tommy and Norton are talking about Andy, the camera shows close ups of their faces to put forward the seriousness and emotion. Once Tommy is dead, they show a view high above him to show that he is small and insignificant. Before Tommy is killed by the guard, Norton drops his cigarette on the ground and puts it out with his shoe.

This shows that Norton is in complete control over all the prisoners and that he thinks of them as insignificant and able to be disposed of as it suits him. Tommy’s life is about to be ‘snuffed out’ just like the cigarette. The light shown throughout the movie is just like the tone of the movie. When there is a dark tone there is low light. This is shown in the cell block. When the tone of the movie is light, bright lighting is shown. This is in two main scenes. These are when the prisoners are resting in the sun on the roof after working and t the end where Red meets up with Andy on the beach.

These two scenes show hope. This movie shows what life in jail is like. Being in jail ruins a person’s life. When a person first goes to jail they want to get out. After a while they begin to depend on the walls. Inside they are a ‘somebody’, but outside they are a ‘nobody’. In sentencing someone to life, that is exactly what they get. When released it is hard to take up a place of respect within the community that resembles what they received from the inside, especially with examples like Mr. Norton and the guards.