Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Shawshank Redmeption

I watched the movie The Shawshank Redemption with my dad tonight. I had never seen it before, and randomly chose it off of his shelf filled with dozens of movies, most of which are war movies and westerns.

I guess I don't have to tell you that I loved it. According to the IMDB page, most people do. Even though it pretty much flopped in theaters, and didn't win one Oscar (despite several nominations), it was the most rented movie of 1995, and has graced many "Top Movies" lists.

The acting was phenomanal, of course, but I think I was struck the most by the writing. Shawshank was originally a novella written by Stephen King, but I think that a lot of credit belongs to the actual screenwriter, who turned a short little novella into a full-length movie.

Here's my favorite quote:
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.

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