Final Film Critique: Shawshank Redemption Pamela Lawson ENG 225 Instructor Markham December 12, 2013 The movie, The Shawshank Redemption (1994), is a remarkable story of a man imprisoned for life who finds friendship and eventually redemption through his acts of kindness and common decency. The main character is named Andy Dufresne and he is a young and successful banker convicted of killing his wife and her lover. He is send to Shawshank Prison to serve out his life sentence. Over the next 20 years in prison, Andy holds on to his optimism and gradually gains the respect of the other inmates. During his incarceration he befriends Ellis “Red” Redding, who is also serving a life sentence for murder, and they form a tight friendship giving compassion and comfort to one another.
This was the prison system in the 1700’s. Prisoners were punished by beheading, hung, whipped, and stoned. In the late 1700’s, Benjamin Henry Latrobe built the Walnut Street Jail it was used to reform prisoners instead of harsh punishment (Goodban, 2006). Prisoners received the bare necessities to sit, sleep, and eat were their only luxuries. When the death penalty was no more the jail suffered overcrowding which led to riots, escapes, and prison guards were attacked.
This overwhelmingly unwelcoming reception that greeted Gerard creates the intimidating environment that the character is experiencing for the first time. Amidst the chaos and gloom of the prison, Hare shows us a small glimmer of humanity in the character of prison officer Raymond Beckett. Although Beckett is presented as a hard headed prison officer who has dealt with thousands of hardened criminals over the years, after hearing Gerard has not been in prison before he shows him some compassion and sympathy. He gives advice on how to survive his first ‘stretch’ in prison. We see evidence of this when Beckett said: ‘you better learn, I’ve seen people go
When the revolution was going to its peak Trujillo's regime started to imprison people who were part of the revolution along with jailing revolutionaries were killed and suffered forms of torture. In the book it shows how he got to power and stayed in power. He did it by having a radar on nearly every person in his country. People would be scared to talk bad about him anywhere they went beyond their home. Even then Trujillos secret police could send his men to spy on a specific family or neighborhood.
- In the novel, Tommy Williams was sent to another prison, however in the movie he was murdered by one of the guards, and Norton was the setup. - The arrival of new prisoners. In the movie, the veteran prisoners bet on which of the new prisoners would be the one to cry and/or make a fuss. This was not in the story, although there was a brief mention near the end about "crybaby" prisoners, and how Andy wasn't one of them. - Warden Norton.
The Shawshank Redemption 1. How does the movie illustrate internal and eternal freedom? In the movie Shawshank redemption, freedom plays a very significant role in the lives of all the inmates; especially Andy Dufresne who is wrongfully convicted to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover. The movie focuses on both the physical (external) and mental (internal) imprisonment of Andy in the maximum-security prison and his journey to overcome the barriers towards freedom make it a story that amazed everyone. When Andy is first locked up in his cell he is separated from society, he looses his physical freedom and is put in a confined space where his every move is watched.
He does not reveal and or admit to anyone that he knew and involvment in Joey’s murder until later on the film. Terry confesses to Father Barry about his involvement in Joey’s death and Father Barry convinces Terry to tell Edie. With the help of Father Barry and Joey’s sister, Edie Doyle, Terry decides to try and expose the mobsters corrupt union leaders plans to employ and to extort money and labor, but it may be too late. Terry ends up testifying to the commission in court against Friendly’s mob, and sends him and every mob member to prison. The film then moves to a scene in which Terry delivers a speech announcing a new goal which was to break away from mob rule.
History of state And federal prisons CJS 230 In 1790 hard labor was punishment for various crimes, it was ordered that jailers segregate the sexes, convicts from debtors, and a sixteen solitary cell facility was built at Walnut Street. This facility was for the worst criminals. Most jails were run for profit. Jailer’s extorted money from the prisoners for their food, clothing and so called luxury items of alcohol and tobacco. The prisoner was kept confined until the debt was paid.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted to observe how subjects took on the role of “prisoner” and “guard” in a mock prison. The study was conducted by Stanford University’s professor of psychology, Philip G. Zimbardo. An advertisement was placed in a local paper, offering fifteen dollars per day for one to two weeks, to male college students interested in participating in the psychological study of prison life. There were 21 men selected and split half into “guards” and half into “prisoners”. To the surprise of the selected “prisoners”, they were arrested in the same fashion an actual criminal would be arrested.
After serving a period of time there is a scene in the cafeteria where inmates are discussing what they are in for and each one says that they are innocent, except for Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, who says that he is the only guilty inmate in Shawshank. Tommy is a younger inmate in Shawshank who has served time in other prisons. Tommy and Red were talking and Tommy asked what Andy was serving time for; Red replied for the murder of his wife and her lover, some golf pro. The next scene shows Tommy, Red, and Andy together in the library. Tommy tells them that about 4 years ago he was serving time in another prison and he got a cell mate who told him about going to some hotshot guy’s house to rob it and the guy woke up and he shot him and his woman.