The Shawshank Redemption

Next up on the Netflix Queue: The Shawshank Redemption

Yes, I know it took me forever to finally see this movie. Have I been living under a rock? Probably. Anyhow, everyone knows that Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman were great in this, so that's all I'll say about that.

What was so striking to me was the movie's depiction of the prison's permanent effect on the inmates lives. Both Brooks and Red discussed how being in prison fundamentally changed their lives. Brooks was terrified of being paroled because he would have no idea how to survive on the outside. Think about how sad that is. Its like an animal that has been lived in a zoo their whole life. If one day they are suddenly set free, they won't possess basic survival skills. Brooks had been in jail for 50 years. His whole life was there. His friends were there. He had a job there. He was somebody there. But outside, he was nothing. Clearly, he didn't like life on the outside. The same thing happened to Red decades later. He is seen contemplating ways to get back in to Shawshank, though he never acts on them. It is shocking to see how the inmates' lives have been destroyed to the point that they cannot have a (what we would call) "normal" life outside of Shawshank. Great movie.



Next up on the queue: Ratatouille, X Files Season 2, Dead Poets Society