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Shawshank Redemption Hope Essay

Decent Essays

The Shawshank Redemption

The 1994 film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, directed by Frank Darabont is a film about a man named Andy Dufresne, an innocent man who is accused for the murder of his wife and her other lover and is sent to prison. The film is about his life in prison and the hope he has for freedom. The film shows how Andy forms friendships within the prison whilst also facing many hardships. It is about how Andy and his newly found friend ‘Red’ find redemption through acts of common decency. The film ends with Red being let out of prison and being reunited with his friend Andy in Mexico after Andy escaped from the prison through a tunnel he dug with a tiny hammer. The overall message that I took away from this film was that we must …show more content…

One message about hope that I took from the film was that hope is something that is needed in our lives every day. Hope is seen at the beginning of the film when Andy first carves his name into the side of his cell with a rock hammer. Whilst doing this Andy realises that the rock can be easily broken. At this point in the film Andy didn't have much hope, however when he sees the rock break the director uses an extreme close up on Andy’s face to show his newfound hope and excitement. Without this newly gained hope Andy probably wouldn't have been able to cope in prison and would most likely have ended up committing suicide. In the film Red says “It would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty.” This shows us the determination that Andy got from his hope. This taught me that we need hope in our lives every day in order to accomplish new challenges that we may face. In order to benefit ourselves and those around us we must have hope. It is imperative. Having hope can inspire and motivate us to pursue the sometimes harder roads that have better outcomes. When hope is present in our lives it gives us strength to push through challenges and make something of ourselves that other people can look to as …show more content…

In Conclusion, one of the main themes that, director, Frank Darabont teaches us is hope. Throughout the film we are taught that we must always have hope no matter how tough the situation is that we are in. Without hope there is nothing but despair.
In New Zealand we have a suicide rate of 580 suicides per year. Depression is a growing problem. Depression comes from not being able to find hope. People must help each other to look for the hope. No situation is truly ever hopeless. Hope is something that we all need in our lives in order to move on and get better, as Andy said “hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things”.

Anton van der

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