The Prey of Vindication
"I have to remind
myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too
bright."
- Ellis Boy "Red" Redding
I would like to repeat the same thing over
again. If you haven't watched the film, watch it before you proceed below. For
those who have watched it, here's a little nudge to lighten up your memories.
Andy Dufresne, a young banker gets convicted for murdering
his wife and her lover.
He dismisses the conviction saying that he didn't kill them.
With all evidence mounting a coup against him , he is sent to Shawshank prison.
THE CONVICT:
No one, even Ellis Boy "Red"
Redding, had hopes on Andy because at first we all judge a person on how
they look. Happens every time. Takes a month for Andy to strike a conversation
with Red.
By this time, we come to know Andy is an introvert. To initiate a conversation with someone one needs a reason. The reason here is a rock hammer. A tiny rock hammer; Andy's Mjölnir.
He asks for one because of his love towards rocks. He loves
geology and knows stuffs.
Anyone who gets accused of doing something off the moral
book, the first thing they say is they didn't do it. Well so did Andy. This is
where you begin to start sounding like a prisoner.
LUCK, CO-INCIDENCE:
Selected among hundred (with the help of Red of course) to
resurface the roof of the license-plate factory, Andy overhears Captain Byron
Hadley's problem with his money.
This is where Andy begins to seep into the heart and nerves
of the captain and warden, hell, he even helps launder money for the entire
prison staff in the future.
Once he gets the hammer, he carves his name to make a mark
inside his prison. This everyone does when they climb a hill, travel in a
public transport (immature), visit an archaeological site ( dirt bags ruining
the beauty of the structures).
But, what does he really do inside the prison?
A) He manages to help everyone get beer after convincing to
help Captain Byron Hadley with his money.
B) Plays 'Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro Duettino' on the gramophone from inside the prison office risking his life and severe punishment.
C) Helps a kid (we'll talk about him later) score a decent grade.
Not just that, he even built a prison library after trying
for so many years.
On being said the risk he involves himself in helping the warden launder money, he says...
I would like to remind Harvey Dent's quote from The Dark
Knight.
"You either die a hero or live long
enough to see yourself become the villain."
After helping Captain Byron Hadley with his money issues, words spread through the prison that Andy Dufresne is good with numbers. In due course of time he begins to launder money for the Warden Samuel Norton and other prison guards.
Things were on track for 20 years. On one fine day, Andy Dufresne escapes from the Shawshank prison.
HOPE:
It isn't rocket science to figure out the film has references to Christian mythology. Andy is a Judeo - Christian messianic figure who embodies goodness, patience and perseverance. He is the torchbearer of hope.
Andy gets the chance to play 'Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro' from inside the prison office. He gets sent to be locked inside the hole (a dark, petite, no window room) for a week. After being let out, he joins his friends for lunch.
He says it was an easy time inside the hole as he had Mozart to accompany him inside. Others around him question as they are not convinced.
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Andy: It was in here (points his mind). And in here (points his heart). That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Red: Well, I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.
Andy: Here's what it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Red: Forget?
Andy: Forget that, there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone that there's a....there's something inside, that they can't get to that they can't touch. It's yours.
---------------
Red can't figure what Andy was meaning to say.
Andy's first and only commandment; hope. This triggers an unwanted worry inside Red.
Andy doesn't take in what Red said and he does this in return. He gets him a new harmonica.
To make him feel sense and to make sure he doesn't forget to lose hope and himself.
Before pulling the disappearing act from the prison stunt, Andy tells Red to go to a place once he gets the parole.
Zihuatanejo is a coastal area, in Mexico where Andy wants to spend his rest of his life. But he wants his friend to be with him. Red agrees to go once he gets released from the prison.
Since Andy is a messianic figure who has a destination to reach , we can consider Zihuatanejo as heaven.
At the end, after Andy escapes, Red's view of himself and life changes. He gets a parole and goes in search for Andy. Red finds a letter which Andy left for him on the way which says...
Andy saved Red.
ELLIS BOYD "Red" REDDING:
Red, Andy's inmate is a prison smuggler who can get things. If you pay a little heed, you can easily see this film is not the story about Andy alone. Red travels with Andy from the start to finish, each helping one another. Most importantly, how Andy influences him.
This film is not about how a prisoner spends his tenure inside the prison or how he escapes. What that matters is, why? The Shawshank Redemption masterpiece was about hope and freedom. If Andy is the torchbearer of hope, Red is for freedom.
A) Before Andy sets his foot inside the prison, Red sits for a rehabilitation board committee for parole.
If you watch this scene you'll find the anxiousness oozing out of Red. The board doesn't feel he is fit to be set out in the outside world and they send him back into the dungeon.
B) The second rehabilitation board review happens after Andy becomes a friend of Red. Both have travelled together for some time.
Red has seen what life holds for someone who want to get a hold of it. Thanks to Andy, he could see that. During this review you'll find Red's anxiousness is comparatively lower than before. Even so, gets rejected.
C) Here comes the final rehabilitation board review.
Ellis Boyd Redding doesn't give a single fuck. Just looks at the board member and how he replies. This is after Andy escapes from the prison. But why the humongous change in attitude. Andy of course.
Down the lane, Andy has proved Red wrong on many things. One such thing is hope. He did the undoable by thinking the unthinkable. He escaped a well monitored and guarded prison right under the security's nose (thanni kaatradhu). On the whole, Andy proved good things will happen if we search for it.
An interesting nuance that can be noted in all the three rehabilitation review meetings. The dialogues.
Red is told to sit during the first meeting. Sit down on the second and please sit down on the third. We can see the board's decorum slowly changes from I don't respect you to I respect you.
Here comes the interesting nuance I told you about.
Note how he replies during the first review meeting. His lines show respect. On the second meeting, he does show respect, but with minimal quantity. On the last meeting, he doesn't care. You can see the see-saw effect. When the board member didn't give him respect, he showed respect. At the end when he was shown respect, he doesn't show respect one bit. The entire dialogue geometry shifts upside down.
FREEDOM:
Red's affinity towards freedom can be noted in few places.
A) This scene can be interpreted in two ways. When Andy gets his friends to drink beer while
resurfacing the roof of the license-plate factory.
Some consider Andy's friends drinking beer together as a
reference to the last supper (supper eaten by Jesus and his disciples on the
night before the crucifixion).
We can also consider this with another biblical reference. During a wedding in Cana of Galilee, when there was no wine but only water, on request from his mother
Mary, Jesus changes water into wine. Andy and his buddies working hard,
sweating (water), then gets them beer (wine) to drink.
B) This is when Andy played Mozart's track.
C) The last one is when Red goes on to meet Andy in
Zihuatanejo.
Red, a man who was in prison, institutionalized for so long,
changes his approach towards life to such an extent only because of Andy.
Freedom varies differently from Andy's and Red's view point.
Deep inside Andy was already free. He had hope, but the freedom he wanted was
the literal liberation from the prison. Whereas Red's was psychological. He
needed his mind to be free which Andy gave it to him. This portion we'll look
down further.
BROOKS HATLEN:
Brooks Hatlen is Shawshank's librarian who was a prisoner
from 1905 to 1954. A completely institutionalized person who forgot how to live
outside the prison. He is a sweet and caring person.
You see the little bird, that's Jake who fell down from the
nest. Brooks takes care of him till he learns how to fly.
He gets parole and he loses his mind.
To stay inside the prison he plans to hurt Heywood but Andy
saves him from Brooks. He gets parole. Before he goes out, he sets Jake free who
is all grown.
He sits on a bench in a park thinking about Jake, a bird. He
has no family and friends. Imagine what a old timer like him would go through
in such a situation. Though he stays on screen for a limited amount of time,
you can't forget and ignore to love him.
Now note what he says.
"You go on now.
You're fee. You're free," was never for Jake. It was for him. Brooks
hangs himself after failing to comprehend the outside world. Too much to take
in, he gave up. If you smell the essence of his character, you'll feel this is
one of cinema's saddest deaths.
TOE TO TOE:
Notice anything? Yes? Good for you. No? I'll tell you. It's the
placement of the camera. Placement signifies what is in each character's mind.
Brooks steps out of the prison, the camera is placed in front of him with
Shawshank prison in the background. This signifies Brooks doesn't want to go
out, but wants to stay inside.
Take a look at the camera placement during Red's exit. It's
placed behind him with the outside world in the background which signifies that
he doesn't want to stay inside, wants to go out into the world.
Brooks looking inside the bus, not outside. His fists
clenching the seat grill so tight. Fear of being outside the prison.
Red looking out at the horizon filled with plants, flowers,
trees, birds and mountains. His fists are doesn't hold anything tight out of
fear. He isn't scared. He wants to be out and he is.
Is death a choice? Brooks and Red are sent to the same building to stay after their parole, but only one makes it out alive.
Brooks and Red both don't have any friends or family on the
outside. On the inside, they had Andy but Andy wasn't close with Brooks as he
was with Red. They both spent a lot of time together. Maybe the age difference
between Brooks and Red had a play in it. The only reason Red didn't kill
himself was because of Andy.
He didn't have anything to hold onto, but Andy gave him a
pinch of hope and destination.
EVIL AT HAND:
Norton, the Warden is the Devil. Hadley, the Captain is a
demon who does the Devil's dirty work.
Money laundering was going smooth for the Warden and the
others until this fellow shows up. This is Tommy, the kid I mentioned earlier
who passes an exam with Andy guidance. He didn't come into the prison empty
handed. He had something with him. Information. Remember Senthil from Boys
quoting "informasion is
wealth." It could either save you or kill you.
Four years before Tommy was in another prison for stealing.
He met a guy there who was a cold blooded murderer who confessed that he
murderer a banker's wife and her lover. This is when what actually happened at
the start for which Andy got wrongly convicted. Till now Andy alone knows he
was innocent. Now we all know.
Andy asks the warden to help him get out of the prison but
he doesn't. Instead he puts him inside the hole for a month.
The Devil has to do what the Devil has to do right? He talks
to Tommy to find out what he told was true and finds out it is true. Captain
Hadley shoots him.
News travels fast. Andy
tells the warden that he won't be his lap dog anymore.
The warden disagrees and lets him rot inside the hole for
another month. This pisses Andy off.
After he is let out from the hole, he escapes or vanishes to be precise from the prison.
There is a scene where Red asks Andy about the risk of being
caught because of laundering money.
He conjured himself out of thin air from the prison just
like how he conjured an imaginary character Randall Stevens. Not a banker but a
magician as well he is.
A good magician never reveals his secret. Everyone has
zero clue about how he escaped. The warden figures out how he escaped when he
throws Andy's chess piece at the wall. It passes through Rita Hayworth's
poster.
The trick is revealed. We know how Andy Dufresne vanished or escaped to be precise.
THE TRICK:
:
Andy hid his hammer in the
Bible which the warden gave when he began his prison time. Note the circled
part. Exodus. The Exodus comprises the story of Moses, a messiah who leads the
slaves (Jews) from Egyptian empire through the Red Sea. Andy bookmarks exactly
the Exodus chapter. His Exodus began 20 years ago. He crawls through 500 yard
of sewage for his freedom. A direct Hebrew Bible reference.
He begins his Exodus as Moses and ends up as Jesus.
After Jesus sacrifices himself, he gets resurrected and
ascends to heaven. After Andy escapes, he goes to Zihuatanejo which is Andy's heaven.
Him being portrayed as a
messianic figure in the film makes total sense.
THE GAME CHANGER:
Andy loves to play chess and
we can find him playing with Red at occasions.
Chess requires a lot of
thinking and patience which Andy has plenty. We'll see how he made his moves
right from the start to the end.
He bought the hammer for a
hobby purpose. He tried to carve his name of the wall.
Surprise, surprise, the wall
broke.
He has knowledge in geology.
Right there he decides it's his only getaway chance. At this instant, we as the
audience don't know for sure whether Andy was a murderer or not. But he knows he wasn't.
The problem for Andy now is
to cover the wall. Enter Red. He goes to Red and asks Rita Hayworth's poster and
he gets it. The poster's purpose is to hide the tunnel he digs.
He keeps doing his digging at
night and during the day he drops the debris.
Since it's a jail cell,
constant checking is bound to happen.
Here we can see the gaurds
checking his cell and warden handing over his Bible. Imagine what would've
happened if the tore the poster or if the Bible was opened. Andy would've been
done for. Imagine the fear he might've been during every check, but he made it
through. Kept calm and easy. It's funny the warden saying salvation lies within
the Bible exactly where Andy hid his hammer. One is his/her own enemy.
I am mentioning everything in order because they are jumbled in the film which gives the viewer a sense that all the dots were not in connection.
Till Tommy dies he never
shares his dream to live near the ocean. After Tommy's death he does to Red.
He exposes Norton, the Warden
and Hadley (avan moonja paarungalen, anju paisa maathri), the Captain about their money laundering. Hadley gets arrested.
Norton shoots himself in the head. Now this is a bonus pack actually. From the
looks of it, Andy decided to escape from the prison 20 years ago when he found
his cell wall was bleak. The actual plan was to escape without dragging anyone
into it, but the warden and captain driven by greed and corruption, couldn't
let Andy go off the hook. They killed Tommy. That is why he exposed them and
escaped.
Let us imagine if there is no
Tommy character in the picture and Andy doing the money laundering for the
warden and others. He would've quietly escaped. Killing Tommy changed the
scenario entirely. I'm quoting again, one is his/her own enemy.
Take a look at the deaths of
Tommy and Norton. The shot division is amazing.
A light source near their dead body.
TONGUE OF RED:
After Andy shares his dream
of settling alongside the ocean, Red says those are shitty pipe dreams.
Guess what, Andy crawled
through a pipe of infinite shit to reach the Zihuatanejo.
After seeing the hammer, Red
felt it would take 600 years to tunnel under a wall and escape.
Again, Andy proved him wrong.
THE MISTAKE:
What could've saved Norton
and Hadley?
We know that Andy escaped from the prison and the Warden is
the main reason for it. Here's the first one. The Bible. He hid his hammer for 20 years in the Bible
which he gave. During cell check, the guards won't throw or mishandle the Bible
as it's their scared book. Andy finds a perfect spot to hid his hammer.
Norton visits Andy after knowing he helped Captain Byron
Hadley with his money problem. The Devil has other names. Lucifer, Morningstar.
Star emits light. He quotes his favourite verse from the Bible.
He didn't know what he quoted would actually come true in
the future. The Warden asks what's Andy's favourite verse and Andy quotes...
Andy is the master, not the warden. He escaped a heavily
guarded prison. So the warden's and Andy's favourite verses resonate what they
are and what they are about to do.
The second mistake he did was permitting Rita Hayworth's
poster to stay on the wall.
These are the mistakes because the Bible and the poster
played a vital role in Andy escape. If any one of it was not offered or
permitted, Andy would've come under the innocent punished by the law category.
Though he spent 20 years in jail, lessons learned in life
never comes easy and for free. We all have our issues, struggles and phases of
life which tests us and puts us through difficult times. The feel of your world
stopped spinning but everyone's world keeps spinning at brisk pace, the
devastating turmoil in our gut, not an easy one to tackle. Someone, a stranger,
or a friend asks you how are you and you say I'm right where I stopped and
never moved an inch.
If Andy had a thought like that, he wouldn't have made it
out. We reap what we sow. We always have a choice. Once a choice is made, we
must go through it whether it's good or bad. There is nothing to worry if we
have something which can't be taken from us, HOPE.
- Nirmal S. Sudarsana
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