Get Busy *Living* or Get Busy *Dying*?!. Review on Shawshank Redemption Movie

'Fear can hold you prisoner Hope can set you free’'

Rehabilitated??? It is a bull-shix / politicians word so that the guys like you can wear a tie & have a job. You want to know if I feel bad about what I did? Hardly a day goes by when I don't think about it. I want to talk to the kid that committed that crime, I want to teach him how the things are & talk a little sense in him. But that kid is long gone & what has left is this old man. So go on and stamp your forms son, and stop wasting my time, to tell you the truth, I don’t give a shix !!

Wanted to write on this masterpiece from long time. Since I saw this movie it raised the bar for a good movie for me. For a few days I used say 'This is a good one but not as good as Shawshank Redemption!'. This movie (of course along with others) also entered Morgan Freeman in my list of Top 5 best actors: https://mouthshut.com/readreview/54211-1.html

I have also mentioned about this all time great movie is my top10 Hollywood movies review: https://mouthshut.com/readreview/57426-1.html & also in the Five Best movies of the 90s: https://mouthshut.com/readreview/58660-1.html

There are movies that really give you hope & make you feel that you are important & capable of pulling many difficult tasks in life. This movie also shows what a 'will' of a person can achieve & also stresses that for everyone nothing is more important/dear than the freedom! 'Hope is a good thing probably the best of the things & no good thing ever dies' Based on the novel by Stephen King 'Rita Heyworth & The Shawshank Redpemtion'

The movie starts when Andrew Defrense: Tim Robbins is brought to the Shawshank Prison after being sentenced 'two life terms' without parole for killing his wife for having an affaire. He is sort of a cold-blood banker who has a 'quite way' about him. Red : Morgan Freeman is an inmate also in for a murder. The movie slowly picks up with Red being denied the parole after he says the typical dialogs 'yeah I have been rehabilitated,, I am a changed man now etc etc' :-)

Dufrense is industrious person & he doesn't want to spend time crying on why he was sent in this place & why he didn't deserve the punishment etc. He just goes about his business of keeping himself busy.

The movie also doesn't reveal if he is guilty or innocent but audience is also 50% on each side even though a few dialogs make us believe that Andrew could be innocent:

'Lawyer:Don't you find it inconvenient Mr Dufrense that the night your wife gets murdered, you throw away your revolver in the river which is never found so that police can't confirm if the bullets are fired from the same one??'

Andrew: 'I find it highly inconvenient since the fact is that I am innocent!'

Andy Dufrense starts by impressing the chief security officer by saving him tax on the gift that his relative has left for him & asks for a round of beer for his friends. This scene you've got to watch to understand the effectiveness. The warden visits him due to this & soon involves him in his money-matters wherein the warden earns a lot of money.

Some of GREAT scenes that you can't forget are 'a round of beers' as described above, the way warden get rid of the witness for Andrew's re-appeal. The way Brookes tries to revert his parole & then leaves the world (institutionalized). The scene where Andrew plays the music 'I’ve had Mr. Mozart to keep me company. The music was in here, in my head, and in here in my heart.That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you'. The final drama unfolding. The scene before it starts: the awestruck warden 'don't say again that he was not here'. The best scene is where Morgan Freeman talk to the committee at the end (quotes at the start of the review).

Tim Robbins & Morgan Freeman have given Oscar worthy performance in the movie. I think they were nominated but didn't get it? They have done their roles with extreme ease. Morgan Freeman is a God! I find Morgan Freeman very similar to Amitabh Bachchan's several roles & overall dialog delivery. Both are perfect in what they do.

You watch this movie from the eyes of Red most of the time & that is one of the most important things of the impact of this movie. Morgan Freeman delivers with a perfect dialog delivery so typical of him. The last 5-10 minutes are a splendid experience when Red 'explains' us what had happened in the night.

The dialogs of this movie are the greatest strong point. It is impossible to quote all of them here but here are a few ones that Liked the best & have a great impact:

You have got to watch this movie! I am sure once you watch this one you will follow it with several movies from Morgan Freeman like Seven, The Sum of All Fears & Kiss The girls, Along came a spider & many more.

Thanks for reading, now time to rate & comment!

~Milind