肖申克的救赎 影评 英文电影赏析

Hope, freedom and redemption

When I finished the Shawshank Redemption, I was profoundly moved and shocked. There are three words emerging in my mind: hope, freedom and redemption, which I think are the keynotes the movie attempts to convey transmit to the audiences.

To be full of hopes and pursuit of freedom is a basic human right. But hope is a terrible thing for the prisoners of Shawshank. Red said,\"These walls are kind of funny like that. First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passed, get so you depend on them.\" This change, we have to say, is a gradual process of abandoning hope, and they feel much easier in Shawshank than outside, just like Brooks. Brooks is a tragedy. He has been used to the life in the Shawshank and he has given up both hope and freedom. When he paroles from prison, he cannot adapt to the society out of the jail, so he always feels worried and fearful. Actually, it is the freedom which he never hopes to get that makes him feel worried. He wants to get safety. He wants to prove his existence, but he hangs himself finally. He can't enjoy the freedom.

Brooks fails in the hope and freedom. How about Red In fact, Red has the same predicament as Brooks. Although he doesn't utterly lose the longing for freedom, but he doesn't really believe in the hope. He even thinks that hope is a dangerous thing. But for the help of Andy, he wouldn't have succeeded in the true freedom in the end. In contrast, Andy embodies the contrary mentality. The walls of Shawshank can't bondage his pursuit of hope and freedom. He said,\"Hope is a

good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.\" He never gives up hope even in the jail. Virtually, because of the indestructible hope, he finally gets rid of the jail and obtains the freedom. He takes himself for example to prove that hope and freedom are terrific, and demonstrably he is right.

Andy not only salvages himself, but also propagates hope to others. He strives beers for inmates, remolds the library of the jail, plays music of Italy, helps some prisoners who are serving short prison terms to learn and attain a high school diploma so that they can be more qualified after they released. All of these things are for the redemption of others who serve in Shawshank. With the hope, he gets down to redeeming others, just like Red. Suppose Andy himself gives up hope, gives up the pursuit of freedom, what will happen I do believe that he can't save himself, let alone extending a hand to others’ salvation.

Hope is incomparably splendid thing. By virtue of hope, we can pursue freedom, we can get redemption of ourselves and liberate others. Never let hope go, and carve it in mind,\"Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free\".