My top 30 films - No.4

4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free."
Everybody's favourite film (probably), inspired by the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. And unlike the vast majority of Stephen King's books, it's not a horror.
The film centres around Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a banker who is convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover in 1947. He is ordered to serve two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine. After a shaky start, he soon earns the respect and friendship of Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby and Invictus), the prison fixer. He takes every day as it comes; he has a routine to start with, but then he surprisingly helps most of the prison staff with their accounts and acquires funding for the prison library. However, whereas most criminals become institutionalised, Andy still has a desire and determination for freedom.
The film is directed by Frank Darabont who 5 years later went on to direct another film based on a Stephen King book, The Green Mile. Darabont did write a potenial story for what would become Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. His idea was rejected by George Lucas. George, if you had not rejected his idea, it would have been a much better film. In 1983, he made a short adaptation of Stephen King's The Woman in the Room, which impressed the author. He sold the film rights for Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for a dollar. The alternative choice of director was most likely to have been Rob Rainer, who adapted King's novella The Body into the 1986 film Stand By Me. He also directed the film adaptation of Misery in 1990. There is a history of Stephen King not liking some adaptations of his works. The most notable has to be The Shining.
King's novella originally portrayed Red as a middle-aged, red-haired Irishman. However, Darabont decided to cast Morgan Freeman for his presence on screen and demeanor. In his version, Rob Rainer wanted would have gone for Harrison Ford. But Morgan Freeman is perhaps the heart and soul of the film. He does actually say, rather jokingly, "Maybe it's 'cause I'm Irish". He has said that this is his favourite out of his own films. Tim Robbins gives a decent performance as Andy, but another one of the best performances is James Whitmore's as Brooks. He is a character who has spent most of his life at Shawshank, so he has become institutionalized and struggles as soon as he is released back into society.
The ironic thing is even though these people are in prison, the majority of them are actually "innocent". But the main theme to the large extent is the sense of hope and freedom even behind bars. As Andy says "there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours." An example of that is the scene where Andy plays an exert from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart over the loudspeakers. It is one of the most powerful scenes ever I think. Another is Andy keeping his integrity intact, especially in prison.
The Shawshank Redemption did have shaky time when it was originally released. It didn't make much money at the box office at that time, so was re-released during the Oscar season. It is one of the greatest films not to win a single Academy Award. It was nominated though, but in most of the same categories as Forrest Gump. However, it has since become more and more popular. If I was to make a list of great films never to win an Academy Award, this would feature alongside The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, This is Spinal Tap, A Clockwork Orange, Taxi Driver, Monty Python's Life of Brian; you get the picture. In 2011, listeners to BBC Radio 1 voted it their favourite film of all time. And I'm not going to say what I said when I first saw that...