Movies recommended or seen lately... les films a voir #121: The Shawshank redemption

Genre: Drama/Drame

Annee/Year: 1994

Format: DVD

The Shawshank redemption. This is considered by many as one of the top films of the 1990's. First reaction is that this movie is still fresh as it was in '94; and it will certainly be in 20 more years.

The film was directed by Frank Darabont and based on a short story from Stephen King himself. NO IT IS NOT a HORROR movie...Now that this is cleared this duo of Darabont and King was very successfull on many occasion: The Mist (see review #100), the Green mile. Darabont is also directing the new movie hit series "The walking dead" which is relaly taking off.

This film is about friendship between two inmates in the period after the 2nd world war, and their stay in this prison named Shawshank. Tim Robbins plays the role of Andy Dufresne who is a banker who is put inside for the murder of his wife but he is not guilty. Morgan Freeman plays the role of a con artists put in jail for a long time. The acting is worthy of the best caliber and the relationship between the two friends is especially credible. Off course they battle against other nasty inmates and prison guards and director which are often worst than hte prisoners. It is a story of good versus evil and the persistance of man of strong will against the worst odds. A beautiful and very moving story for everyone. If holywood could produce such movies more often we would be really well served.

The Shawshank redemption. Si vous n'avez jamais vu ce film, vous devez le faire à tout prix. Il fait partie d'un petit groupe de film dont vous vous souviendrez toute votre vie. Ce film produit par Frank Darabont (the Mist, Green mile) et basé sur une nouvelle de Stephen King est un autre succès de ce duo magique. Il ne s’agit surtout d'un film fantastique, mais très réaliste. Le film relate l'histoire d’un homme non coupable, joue par Tim Robbins, mit en prison pour la vie et son amitié avec un ami de prison joue par Morgan Freeman qui est le narrateur de cette histoire. Le jeu des acteurs est au summum de l'art. Il faut que tous voient ce film maintenant classique et toujours apprécie.

Great quotes:

Warden Samuel Norton: I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.
...
Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
...
Andy Dufresne: That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.
Andy Dufresne: Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Red: Forget?
Andy Dufresne: Forget that... 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.
Red: What're you talking about?
Andy Dufresne: Hope.
...
Red: These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.
Heywood: Shit. I could never get like that. Prisoner: Oh yeah? Say that when you been here as long as Brooks has.
Red: Goddamn right. They send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway.
...
Red: [narrating] I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.
...
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?
Red: Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society...
Red: I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, are you?
Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
...
Andy Dufresne: If they ever try to trace any of those accounts, they're gonna end up chasing a figment of my imagination. Red: Well, I'll be damned. Did I say you were good? Shit, you're a Rembrandt! Andy Dufresne: Yeah. The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
...
Andy Dufresne: You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
Red: No.
Andy Dufresne: They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/maindetails

Rating perso: 8.5/10