Þetta er verkefni sem ég gerði fyrir kvikmyndaensku í Menntaskólanum við Hamrahlíð. Afsakið að hún er á Ensku, en þannig rolla ég bara. Ekki alltaf, en i þessu áfanga.

In the year 1994 a relatively small prison movie called The Shawshank Redemption was released. It was based on a short story by Stephen King At the time of its release it was not at all popular, but it has since been named by many as one of the greatest films of all time. It stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Red Redding. Both actors are quite respected actors and have both won Academy Awards. Director and writer Frank Darabont specialices in Stephen King movies, hvaing directed three movies based on stories by King. Among those films is The Green Mile, which is also a prison movie.
The film starts with the end of a murder trial. The defendant, Andy Dufresne, is found guilty of murdering his wife and her lover. He is sentenced to two life sentences in prison. He is taken into Shawshank prison in Maine. At first he is a typical newcomer, but as years go by he earns the respect of both his fellow inmates and the guards. His best friend in prison is Red who is probably the most respected inmate among the convicts. He can get anything from outside the prison walls. The film then follows the relationship between these two men as the years go by.
The film is ripe with outstanding scenes, some near perfect. Some scenes are also very touching and there is reason to believe many people cry over some of the more emotional ones. For example, the scene where Brooks describes his life outside the prison walls, and the end of that particular scene is devastating, an can get even the toughest men to weep like a schoolgirl. For myself, the most impacting scene was the one where Andys student, Tommy is shot. The first time I saw the film, late at night, I almost screamed at the unjustice of Tommys demise, never has a scene in a movie had so much impact on me. That scene is the point of the film where we see that the warden believes that the prison would not function without Andy. In the end, that is what the film is essentially about, the prison slowly starts spiraling around Andy, and it eventually becomes him. That makes his escape at the end even more miraculous, seeing how Andy manages to escape against all odds from the institution that does not want him to leave, and how the prison society that has relied on him staying locked up crumbles when he leaves. An the final minutes with Red and Andy meeting again after the years that they have been apart, and for me that is the ultimate beauty of cinema, getting to know characters so well that you can feel the emotions through the silver screen. Although editing, music, cinematography are all important, and in this film they certainly are wonderfully done, it all comes down to the story, and if a film manages to have a permanent effect on ones life, it goes without saying that that film must be ranked among the greatest ever made, and The Shawshank Redemtion is surely the king of kings when it comes to movies that revolve around characters and story.