Andy Dufresne

Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is a wrongly convicted lawyer, serving time in the hell

known as Shawshank Prison for the murder of his adulterous wife. Andy’s life in prison starts

off miserably. He finds maggots in his food, is regularly raped by “the Sisters”, a group of

prisoners who beat an rape other prisoners, and is threatened an harassed by the prison’s guards.

However, as time goes on, Andy slowly turns the hell he lives in into a livable, if not perfect

world. He files the guards’ tax returns, so that he saves the guards money in ways they could

never have found. In return, the guards protect him for the sisters. He even helps the warden of

Shawshank to launder money. (The warden receives bribes in exchange for the free prison labor

he offers to farmers and businesses around the state.) Andy also befriends the prison’s one man

black market, a man known as Red (Morgan Freeman), and is able to purchase a few luxuries.

Through Red, Andy buys a rock hammer, which he uses to carve a chess set, and posters of the

decades’ most beautiful women (as time goes on, Rita Hayworth is replaced by Marilyn Monroe.

Andy, though, still has dreams of a truly perfect world, one without walls or cells, where he can

be truly free. This causes Andy to work every night at digging tunnel out of the prison and into

the outside world. Before Andy escapes, he tells Red about a place to go to, if he should ever get

out of prison. Then one night he escapes. He then empties every account he built up while

working for the warden. After which he exposes the money laundering scheme going on inside

the prison. Finally Red gets parole, and he joins Andy on a sunny beach in Mexico. Andy has

found his Utopia, a place where he has a friend, and no restrictions.

Tim Robbins does an excellent job of portraying a man stuck amongst rapists, murderers,

and thieves. Robbins shows just the right amount of unbeaten hope, combined with a certain

distant, aloof look at times, put together these show that he, unlike the rest of the prisoners, has

an internal fire, separating him from the rest of the inmates. This fire is the perfect way of

foreshadowing Andy’ escape from Shawshank Prison. Morgan Freemen is also outstanding. He

plays a great supporting role, showing how the normal prisoner is different from Andy. While

Tim Robbins shows a certain hope, Freeman shows an acceptance of his condition, and becomes

accepting of every day prison life.

Great performances by Robbins and Freeman combine to make this a great movie. This

movie is truly about the search for a perfect world. Andy finds his perfect world and invites Red

to join him there. This exceptional movie is about hope in the face of adversity, and achieving

victory over insurmountable odds. Tim Robbins masterfully renders an image of a man facing

bleak odds and achieving his perfect Utopia.

I give this movie jjjj