Hope...
My father has a very extended family.
I know this because we have almost always managed to 'find' a cousin in every town that we have been with him.
I met Nirup - my cousin brother for the first time at the age of 17 in a 'cousin convention' of sorts.
Truthfully, he could not have picked a better question to ask me.
As a matter of fact, I loved watching movies and to learn of Nirup's interest in the same area was the perfect ice breaker we needed.
The conversation between us got so intense and animated we ended up moving away from the crowd around us.
He constantly described it as the best movie he had ever seen in his entire life.
Seriously, do not read past this line if you have not seen 'The Shawshank Redemption'
I know this because we have almost always managed to 'find' a cousin in every town that we have been with him.
I met Nirup - my cousin brother for the first time at the age of 17 in a 'cousin convention' of sorts.
The two of us were at our cousin sisters' wedding reception and surrounded by people - mostly other cousins who were at least 15 years older or younger than us (the really little cousins).
Nirup’s father, who happened to be my father’s cousin introduced us and then quickly disappeared, I'm guessing to welcome other cousins who were attending the party.
It was an awkward moment for the both of us, what was the correct reaction here?
Was I supposed to give Nirup a hug? Was Nirup supposed to jump with joy at the sight of a newfound cousin brother?
As we both aimlessly stroked the grass underneath our shoes trying our best to 'Be cool', I wondered if the same thoughts were going through his mind.
"Do you like watching movies Nirup asked"? Breaking the silence.
Truthfully, he could not have picked a better question to ask me.
As a matter of fact, I loved watching movies and to learn of Nirup's interest in the same area was the perfect ice breaker we needed.
The wall of awkwardness that was quickly growing between us came tumbling down with a crash.
The conversation between us got so intense and animated we ended up moving away from the crowd around us.
Nirup had just watched 'The Shawshank Redemption' a day before the wedding, and he couldn't stop talking about the film.
He constantly described it as the best movie he had ever seen in his entire life.
When he asked if I had watched the movie, I simply nodded my head.
I just didn't want to be the only guy on earth who had not seen this film.
I just didn't want to be the only guy on earth who had not seen this film.
To my readers - If at this point in reading the blog post, if you have not seen 'The Shawshank Redemption', stop reading this, I mean it.
The following paragraphs are filled with some heavy spoilers and I don't want what happened to me next, happen to you.
Seriously, do not read past this line if you have not seen 'The Shawshank Redemption'
As soon as I nodded my head, Nirup screamed.
"I cannot believe Andy Dufrense escapes from prison".
I wanted to kick myself, I had no clue what the movie was about, and I had no idea who Andy Dufrense was, but now the words 'Andy Dufrense escaped from prison' were etched forever in my 17-year-old brain.
Barely a week later, at my medical school, my friend Swathi asked me the same question.
"Hey Thomas, Have you seen the Shawshank redemption, its an awesome movie". She said in a text.
Knowing that Andy Dufrense escaped prison, I felt there was nothing further that Swathi could do to ruin the movie for me, so I made the same mistake again.
YES!, I replied.
And to emphasize my point, I followed that up with the words - "I couldn't believe Andy Dufrense escaped from prison".
And to emphasize my point, I followed that up with the words - "I couldn't believe Andy Dufrense escaped from prison".
Yeah. She replied.
Remember the scene where they show you the hole in the wall which he uses to crawl out of his cell?
Remember the scene where they show you the hole in the wall which he uses to crawl out of his cell?
Of course, I didn't 'remember', I didn't even know that's how he escapes from prison.
Believe me when I tell you this - I sighed so heavily my co-passengers in the bus stared at me with concern in their eyes.
Believe me when I tell you this - I sighed so heavily my co-passengers in the bus stared at me with concern in their eyes.
Thanks to my false pride, not only did I know Andy escaped from prison, I now knew exactly how he did it.
Was there any point at all in me watching this great movie?
She shared with me a copy of the film the very next day and I excitedly played it on my computer that evening hoping there was more to it than what I already knew.
I won't lie to you, I was a little disappointed.
To the 17-year-old me 'The Shawshank Redemption' was a great prison break film, ruined by spoilers I was fully responsible for knowing, that's all, nothing more.
Well, that's what I thought.
10 years later I found myself in a very interesting predicament.
My love for movies had grown significantly, and I was watching a large number of films regularly, my record till this day is 8 movies in one day.
Slowly but surely I reached a point where I no longer had interesting new films to see and I was getting tired watching reruns of my favorite movies.
I scoured the internet for movies that I could have missed, and every 'greatest of all time' list I found featured some mention or the other of 'The Shawshank Redemption'.
Why do people like this movie so much? I asked myself repeatedly for days before caving in and deciding to watch it again.
The 27-year-old version of me had started to see that there was more to good cinema than just car chases and bombastic explosions.
I want to express to you how deeply moved I was after watching 'The Shawshank Redemption' for the second time, but I am struggling to do it justifiably.
A second viewing was followed by a third and quickly by a fourth, and every time I watched the movie I realized that there was so much more to it than just an incredible prison break.
I always wanted to write a blog about why I too had begun to feel that 'The Shawshank Redemption' was one of the best movies of all time, but I struggled with my older drafts.
Sometimes when you have a lot to say, it's hard to find the right words.
But then Netflix started streaming the movie 2 weeks ago and I decided it was time, time to revisit Red and Andy in Shawshank prison and see if the movie can invoke the same feelings in me that it did 5 years ago and maybe, just maybe, time to share what I learned from the movie about life itself with everyone else.
'The Shawshank Redemption' explores some really deep themes that we all can relate to, friendship, hope and redemption to name a few, things that you wouldn't imagine existed in a prison, let alone look to find.
Andy is wrongly imprisoned for life and placed in a hostile world surrounded by hardened criminals and wolves in sheep's clothing, he is frequently abused sometimes violently and yet contrary to everyone's expectation he doesn't break.
He finds ways to keep himself busy, rocks that he can carve out shapes from to make a chess set for example.
Andy doesn't just think of himself, he looks for ways to make the lives of the people around him better.
In the 20 years that Andy spends in prison we see him using his professional expertise to curry small favors for his peers, he talks a friend out of hurting another prisoner, builds a beautiful library and helps others improve themselves by taking tests and graduating high school.
Andy's happiness we find seems to be always short-lived, forces around him keep trying to thwart his efforts to create something good, he is constantly threatened, pushed around and even denied a chance to redeem himself of a crime he did not commit and yet all of this doesn't seem to throw him into a state of despair.
It becomes very apparent, almost until the end is that Andy doesn't allow the world outside him to destroy his spirit.
This is perhaps made most evident in one of my favorite scenes in the movie, where Andy locks himself up in a room and plays an opera over the loudspeakers in the prison yard.
For about a minute he closes his eyes and indulges in the music before the guards break in and throw him into solitary confinement for an entire week.
He comes out of solitary confinement with the widest of smiles on his face and talks to his friends in the prison cafeteria.
They can't believe that solitary confinement was worth the trouble that he just went through, and then the following exchange takes place between Andy and Red:
This is the first time in the movie that hope is mentioned, and it also gives us a glimpse into Andy and Red's perspective on life.
Red's despair is justified, his parole is repeatedly denied even though he feels sufficiently 'rehabilitated'
You can't help but think Red has given up, but wonder why Andy is still holding out at the same time.
The movie has its dark moments but perhaps none greater than when Andy's one real chance of being exonerated is destroyed by the warden.
Most of the movie is seen through Red's eyes and we share in his anxiety when we notice Andy exude a sense of hopelessness for the first time.
The tension increases when you realize that Andy manages to procure a rope for another prison mate.
Your heart was probably racing when he doesn't show up outside his cell the next morning during roll call.
And your jaw probably dropped when you saw the empty cell a few moments later.
As they show you a montage of scenes describing Andy's escape from prison, If you have been watching the movie with undivided attention, you start to feel the weight on Andy's shoulder as he drags himself through the sewage pipe, crawling one small foot at a time till he breaks out into the open.
With Thomas Newman's rousing score playing in the background, you feel the sense of redemption as Andy throws out his hands into the sky with the rain pouring down, washing away 19 years of unimaginable pain and sorrow.
This movie is full of memorable quotes, but two of my favorites come after Andy escapes.
When Red realizes his dear friend has broken free he says something that captures the essence of all that Andy represented and what he had come to mean to him.
"Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all.
Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild.
So you let them go or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you, and the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty from their departure".
Red is eventually paroled and after spending nearly 40 years in prison he struggles with life in the world outside.
But then he remembers a promise he made to his friend and heads out to Buxton, he finds some money and a letter inside a box with a message from Andy.
"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
We then see Red breaking his Parole and heading out to find Andy in Zihuatenejo, and he shares his thoughts with us as he looks outside the window.
"I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.
I hope".
As the end credits roll I often ask myself if there is an Andy Dufrense or a Red in us all, a version of you and me that wishes to help, a real friend, someone who wants to make things better for others, that keeps working on a larger than life goal without really bothering anyone else, that still looks out for the ones we love even long after we have gotten to where we wanted to be.
Someone who even in the direst circumstance continues to believe in a better future, someone who doesn't allow any person, force or power to take the joy from inside their heart, someone who always hopes.
Until next time,
TGV
I won't lie to you, I was a little disappointed.
To the 17-year-old me 'The Shawshank Redemption' was a great prison break film, ruined by spoilers I was fully responsible for knowing, that's all, nothing more.
Well, that's what I thought.
10 years later I found myself in a very interesting predicament.
My love for movies had grown significantly, and I was watching a large number of films regularly, my record till this day is 8 movies in one day.
Slowly but surely I reached a point where I no longer had interesting new films to see and I was getting tired watching reruns of my favorite movies.
I scoured the internet for movies that I could have missed, and every 'greatest of all time' list I found featured some mention or the other of 'The Shawshank Redemption'.
Why do people like this movie so much? I asked myself repeatedly for days before caving in and deciding to watch it again.
The 27-year-old version of me had started to see that there was more to good cinema than just car chases and bombastic explosions.
A second viewing was followed by a third and quickly by a fourth, and every time I watched the movie I realized that there was so much more to it than just an incredible prison break.
I always wanted to write a blog about why I too had begun to feel that 'The Shawshank Redemption' was one of the best movies of all time, but I struggled with my older drafts.
Sometimes when you have a lot to say, it's hard to find the right words.
But then Netflix started streaming the movie 2 weeks ago and I decided it was time, time to revisit Red and Andy in Shawshank prison and see if the movie can invoke the same feelings in me that it did 5 years ago and maybe, just maybe, time to share what I learned from the movie about life itself with everyone else.
'The Shawshank Redemption' explores some really deep themes that we all can relate to, friendship, hope and redemption to name a few, things that you wouldn't imagine existed in a prison, let alone look to find.
Andy is wrongly imprisoned for life and placed in a hostile world surrounded by hardened criminals and wolves in sheep's clothing, he is frequently abused sometimes violently and yet contrary to everyone's expectation he doesn't break.
He finds ways to keep himself busy, rocks that he can carve out shapes from to make a chess set for example.
Andy doesn't just think of himself, he looks for ways to make the lives of the people around him better.
In the 20 years that Andy spends in prison we see him using his professional expertise to curry small favors for his peers, he talks a friend out of hurting another prisoner, builds a beautiful library and helps others improve themselves by taking tests and graduating high school.
Andy's happiness we find seems to be always short-lived, forces around him keep trying to thwart his efforts to create something good, he is constantly threatened, pushed around and even denied a chance to redeem himself of a crime he did not commit and yet all of this doesn't seem to throw him into a state of despair.
It becomes very apparent, almost until the end is that Andy doesn't allow the world outside him to destroy his spirit.
This is perhaps made most evident in one of my favorite scenes in the movie, where Andy locks himself up in a room and plays an opera over the loudspeakers in the prison yard.
For about a minute he closes his eyes and indulges in the music before the guards break in and throw him into solitary confinement for an entire week.
He comes out of solitary confinement with the widest of smiles on his face and talks to his friends in the prison cafeteria.
They can't believe that solitary confinement was worth the trouble that he just went through, and then the following exchange takes place between Andy and Red:
Andy: I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company. It was in here (He taps at his head) and in here (He points at his heart). That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music? Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so we don't forget, that there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone, that there's, there's something inside that they can't get to, that they can't touch. It's yours.
Red: What are you talkin' about?
Andy: Hope.
Red: Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea.
This is the first time in the movie that hope is mentioned, and it also gives us a glimpse into Andy and Red's perspective on life.
Red's despair is justified, his parole is repeatedly denied even though he feels sufficiently 'rehabilitated'
You can't help but think Red has given up, but wonder why Andy is still holding out at the same time.
The movie has its dark moments but perhaps none greater than when Andy's one real chance of being exonerated is destroyed by the warden.
Most of the movie is seen through Red's eyes and we share in his anxiety when we notice Andy exude a sense of hopelessness for the first time.
The tension increases when you realize that Andy manages to procure a rope for another prison mate.
Your heart was probably racing when he doesn't show up outside his cell the next morning during roll call.
And your jaw probably dropped when you saw the empty cell a few moments later.
As they show you a montage of scenes describing Andy's escape from prison, If you have been watching the movie with undivided attention, you start to feel the weight on Andy's shoulder as he drags himself through the sewage pipe, crawling one small foot at a time till he breaks out into the open.
With Thomas Newman's rousing score playing in the background, you feel the sense of redemption as Andy throws out his hands into the sky with the rain pouring down, washing away 19 years of unimaginable pain and sorrow.
When Red realizes his dear friend has broken free he says something that captures the essence of all that Andy represented and what he had come to mean to him.
"Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all.
Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild.
So you let them go or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you, and the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty from their departure".
Red is eventually paroled and after spending nearly 40 years in prison he struggles with life in the world outside.
But then he remembers a promise he made to his friend and heads out to Buxton, he finds some money and a letter inside a box with a message from Andy.
"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
We then see Red breaking his Parole and heading out to find Andy in Zihuatenejo, and he shares his thoughts with us as he looks outside the window.
"I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.
I hope".
As the end credits roll I often ask myself if there is an Andy Dufrense or a Red in us all, a version of you and me that wishes to help, a real friend, someone who wants to make things better for others, that keeps working on a larger than life goal without really bothering anyone else, that still looks out for the ones we love even long after we have gotten to where we wanted to be.
Someone who even in the direst circumstance continues to believe in a better future, someone who doesn't allow any person, force or power to take the joy from inside their heart, someone who always hopes.
Until next time,
TGV
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