This month, we are going to take a look at the movie The Shawshank Redemption. Again, we are doing this from a certain interpretive perspective: how can we isolate questions and elements from the movie to create a Christian conversation? The movie is full of possible Christian themes and symbols, but we want to move beyond an "interpretive gymnastics" to find questions that confront us about life and death. And, in the end, seek to respond with the resources of our Christian faith--theology, tradition, scripture, experience. So, while below we have some ways to think through the movie Christianly, I would encourage you to think about questions that might map onto our Christian faith.
From the Journal of Religion and Film, article "Scripture on the Silver Screen"
Yet another Jesus-figure is Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption. Andy is an
innocent man who is baptized into the bleak world of Shawshank prison with a
cold shower and a dose of lice powder. With the patience of Job and spurred by
hope for a better future, Andy takes twenty years to chisel his way through the
prison wall and escapes Shawshank through the sewer system. After the sewer
spews him into the river outside the prison compound, Andy strips off his shirt,
stretches out his arms, and gazes upwards, to the accompaniment of a magnificent
rainstorm and a majestic soundtrack. After his departure, Andy’s prison friends,
like Jesus’ disciples, reminisce about him and draw comfort from his memory.
Andy’s best buddy and most faithful disciple, Red, follows in his footsteps
after he is finally paroled. Although Andy is not physically present, he saves
Red from despair and poverty by providing him with money, a destination, and a
purpose. The final scene, in which Red strides across the sandy shores of the
Pacific to meet Andy who is hard at work sanding down an old fishing boat, is an
eschatological vision. The images of water, boats, white clothing, and the
simple life recall the visual representations, in art and film, of Jesus and his
disciples at the Sea of Galilee.
From the Journal for the Renewal of Religion and Theology
In the American prison film, The Shawshank Redemption , corrupt Warden
Norton (Bob Gunton) was an obnoxious Bible-thumping Christian who distributed
Bibles to new prisoners and claimed: “I believe in two things: discipline and
the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass
belongs to me.” The Warden referred to the Bible throughout the film to justify
his sadistic brutality of the prisoners and to add an air of pious authority to
underpin his ruthlessness. In effect, the Warden had turned the holy word of God
into a symbol of oppression and hypocrisy, whilst highlighting his corrupt
Christian fundamentalism hidden behind the guise of church-going righteousness.
However, at films end, the Warden's pretentious piousness, moral hypocrisy, and
secret financial corruptions were revealed by the long-suffering, innocent
inmate, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who successfully escaped prison by digging
a hole through his cell wall using a rock hammer cunningly hidden inside his own
hollowed-out Bible. Andy had thus turned his copy of sacred Scripture into a
postmodern symbol of liberation, if somewhat unconventionally packaged and
deployed.
Indeed, even deeper theological meaning can be extracted from this Bible
scene because the “top page of the carved-out space for the rock hammer is
clearly visible to the observant film viewer: it is the title page of the book
of Exodus, the biblical story of escape from bondage” (Jewett 1999: 181).
Previously, Andy almost lost his Bible-cum-escape tool when Warden Norton
accidentally walked off with it before turning around and giving it back saying:
“I'd hate to deprive you of this. Salvation lies within.” That statement was
biblically, theologically and literally true, which Andy deliciously
acknowledged within his own escape note: “Dear Warden, you were right. Salvation
lay within.” Similarly, the American prison film, Escape from Alcatraz ,
employed a Bible to hide Frank Morris' (Clint Eastwood's) material means of
escape, thus proffering another de facto symbol of hope and freedom packaged
inside Holy Writ.
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