The Shawshank Redemption

The Human Spirit

The majority of this film plays out in the prison of Shawshank. it is set a a few years after the second world war. A banker Andy is arrested for the murder of his wife, the evidence is circumstantial but it is enough to send him to prison.

The prison is run by a not very nice warden, whom leaves the day to day tasks to the head prison guard Byron. Byron only seems to be interested in reminding everyone that he is in charge when the warden isn't around, and you must do what he says without question. As long as there is order, what the prisoners get up to isn't a main concern of his.

Very shortly after being sent to prison a group of fellow prisoners called the "sisters" decide that they like Andy, and "play" with him on a fairly regular basis. This it seems is to be prison life for Andy, until one day he overhears Byron complaining about how he is going to loose a lot of his inheritance to the tax man.

In short Andy shows Byron how he can keep ALL of the inheritance. The warden and other guards take note of Andy's financial skills from this point on. Andy is now the wardens pet accountant/tax expert, so protected from the "sisters" by the guards.

Andy's financial skills shine through resulting in the inter prison baseball league being move to tax time, where Andy does ALL the guards taxes from ALL the prisons in the area.

While Andy works for the warden he is never owned by the warden, this is displayed in a few scenes. One of which is where Andy gets a recording of an opera and plays it over the PA system, and continues to play it until the guards are forced to break into the office with the record player. This lands Andy in solitary confinement for a period.

I won't go any further into the story line just in case you haven't seen it. I have seen this movie a number of times, and I suspect I will see it quite a few more times. Yes it is that good. It is one of those movies that everyone should see, as ALL the actors do a superb job, the cinematography is top notch along withe the story line.