But, as I sat and watched the film, I was struck by all the religious symbolism in the movie. Now, some of you may have heard about various studies done on films like "The Matrix" and all the religious symbolism found in that film (Hello! Keanu's character is called "NEO"--an anagram for "ONE". Ya know, as in "the One".
Anyway, I'm watching Shawshank...and its LOADED with religious symbolism.
Check out some of the comments from the website---"Hollywood Jesus"---which examines religious symbolism in modern film. (I know at this point a lot of you who know me are going...."Jeff??? Religion????" Yeah, yeah....I know...but look:
The warden painfully abuses Andy through torture, solitary confinement and the murder of a friend. Andy realizes he needs to choose life. "Get busy livin' Or, get busy dying."I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.
-Deut. 30:19 NRSV
Secretly, behind a large pin up girl poster in his cell, Andy over the course of two decades tunnels his way out. It is as though he re-enters a woman (the pin-up girl) to be born again. Freedom comes at a cost, he must go through a human waste sewage pipe. The way up is sometimes down. Sometimes we must confront our own dung (and of others), and work through it to be truly free.He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
Psalm 40:2 NRSV
There is a lot of symbolism in this film. The warden learns of his fate, his last judgement, through the Bugle newspaper. Sort of a last trump, as it is called in scripture.
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
-1 Cor. 15:52 NRSV
In time, Red is released from prison. He is reunited with Andy, but only after learning the importance of hope.Proverbs 23:18 NRSV
Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
Romans 8:24-25 NRSV
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Review by
Steven Michael
zxcv123@pop3free.com
The reviews of most films nowadays are filled with meaningless hyperbole: "The greatest ever…", "awesome", "unbelievable". In the case of The Shawshank Redemption, it is only now, in the fullness of time, that the greatness of this film is finally coming into public consciousness as it takes its rightful place as one of the greatest films of all time.
Based on the screen adaptation of Stephen King's story Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.the theatrical release (1994) starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, is a powerful portrayal of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of utterly impossible odds.
Nominated for seven Academy Awards® including Best Picture--two Golden Globe nominations and one nomination for Screen Actors Guild Award in 1995. Nominated for best music, original score by Thomas Newman. Shawshank has found redemption in the court of public opinion.
According to an April 30, 1999 article by Stephen Schurr, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal, [t]he hugely popular site [Internet Movie Database], acquired by Amazon.com last year, is visited by more than three million separate visitors every month, according to Colin Needham, imdb's founder and managing editor.."Shawshank" has been among the top ten ever since its release in 1994, and has been No. 1 for nearly two years, save for a brief surge by "Star Wars" after its re-release and an occasional eclipse by "The Godfather."
The film's writer and director, Frank Darabont, has made superb use of double entendre--there are several scenes in the film where the audience is left pondering the obvious outcome when in fact, the director has something entirely different in mind. As such, the director has made use of his dramatic license and provided the audience with an artistic touch that borders on sheer brilliancy.
If there is one scene that captures the spirit, grandeur and majesty of the Shawshank Redemption, it is the scene were Andy Dufresne has fallen out of the sewer pipe and stumbles in the drainage ditch in the rain. Amid heavy lightning and thunder, removes his shirt, then undershirt and raises his hands and arms to the heavens. It is as if God himself has given sanction and ordained the event. The music itself crescendos to a majestic fever pitch and the audience is witnessing, if for only a very brief moment, a divine event wrought by the hand of God.
It is possible, that no single scene in the entire history ofcinema so completely captures the spirit and essence of an entire film, as this one did.
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Pretty interesting stuff, huh? Think about some of the stuff that the writer talked about the next time you watch the film---which should be pretty soon. And remember the movie's tagline:
"Fear can hold you prisoner....
Hope can set you free."
Later,
Jeff
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