The Shawshank Redemption
Frank Darabont is a director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for several Oscars and a Golden Globe. While he has done work on some horror films and TV shows like The Blob and The Walking Dead, he is also well known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as The Woman in the Room, The Green Mile, The Mist, and the focus of this analysis—The Shawshank Redemption.
Darabont’s script for The Shawshank Redemption, an adaptation of “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” from Stephen King’s collection Different Seasons, is just as captivating to read as the film is to watch. While the film has always been one of my favourites, reading the script has deepened my appreciation for it as it embraces the change from a written medium to a visual one via its care in capturing the spirit of the source material, making adjustments to benefit its place on the screen, and its attention to foreshadowing and imagery.
I’ll start by explaining what I mean about the spirit of the source material. The original novella was told from the point of view of Red, a con who has been serving time at Shawshank. While the film sets Andy as the clear focus and protagonist, we are treated to a frequent and consistent voice over in the script from Red as he becomes our narrator and guide into the story, much like the original novella. Despite the fact that I’m typically wary about voice overs in scripts as they can sometimes come off as invasive to the flow of the narrative, The Shawshank Redemption is one of those examples of voice over done well.
What makes Red’s narration throughout the script good, is that his dialogue is captivating and his voice unique. He is a descriptive story teller, as seen in the example above, so rather than his commentary feeling intrusive in the script, it’s welcomed as we gain further insight into the story. It also never falls into the trap of telling us too much and not allowing the screenplay to show us the story. Instead, it complements the visuals and aids in helping the audience fill in the gaps, while also setting the tone for the scene and respecting our intelligence as viewers by not outright giving us the answers. An example of this would be Andy’s first encounter with the Sisters. While we are not explicitly shown or told that Andy was raped, the conclusion is obvious from the visuals and what Red has told us.
As such, despite moving from a written medium to the big screen, the spirit of the original novella is retained as we comfortably settle into the story by using Red as our guide into the prison world.
However, this is not the only way the voice over benefits the script. Another example of the strength of Red’s voice is its ability to make other characters more accessible to the audience. We are told at the very start that Andy is a “particularly icy and remorseless man,” and while this is a bit of a misjudgement of his character given to us from the people overseeing his trial, we can see where this stems from as Andy tends to be fairly quiet and keeps things to himself. If not for the fact that we see Andy through Red’s eyes, it might be harder to understand him as a character and he wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as a protagonist. And it’s not just Andy that Red allows us to warm up to. This happens again later in the script when we are introduced to Tommy. Everything about the character seems to set him up as someone the audience could hate—he’s young, cocky, and struts around the place. The first words we get out of him are even off-putting as he seems disrespectful to the characters the movie has built up to make us love.
But because Red likes him, we are also inclined to like Tommy.
Of course, there’s more going on in the script than just a well-executed voice over. Keeping our focus on Tommy, the script wastes no time in showing us that we were right to trust Red’s judgement in liking Tommy as the young inmate proves to be charismatic and funny, joking about the crime he committed that landed him in Shawshank, but more importantly, he has a clearly defined goal that the audience can root for: Tommy has a wife and a newborn and he wants to finish his education and straighten up so he can do right by them.
This is another aspect the script excels at—it wastes no time in getting us the important information we need about each character and establishing their personality. With Andy, we know immediately after the opening image of his wife having an affair that his wife was murdered and he’s on trial for it. We also get an idea of the type of person he is from what he says at the trial, such as how, despite the tragedy, he tends to speak very matter-of-factly about everything. For Red, we see he’s the “guy who can get it for you” as he slips a fellow con a pack of cigarettes. With Norton, the warden of Shawshank, we know he is a devout follower of God even before he says anything, thanks to the visuals we are provided.
This quick pacing ties into how the script has made adjustments to the source material to better fit its place on the big screen. “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” opens with Red describing himself as the guy people go to to get what they need. The script, however, opens with the affair between Andy’s wife and the pro golfer before we pull back and see Andy sitting just outside in his car, drinking, with a gun and bullets. Not only is it a strong visual hook, but we are immediately introduced to the inciting incident that sends Andy Dufresne to Shawshank. Following this and Andy’s trial, we are then introduced to Red in an important scene that is repeated two more times throughout the script, his parole hearing. The significance of the script starting with Red’s parole hearing rather than with Red’s introduction of himself is that it begins to tease at the theme of the story, to never lose hope, and that Red has lost his as he gives the men at his hearing a canned response.
To really embrace this theme, Darabont made a few significant changes to the story by first emphasizing how hopeless the situation is for the prisoners of Shawshank. One example is how the story of Brooks was expanded in his screenplay. In the source material, Brooks was a character mentioned for less than a page, but he was plucked out and given a larger role for the sake of the script. Through Brooks we’re introduced to the idea of prisoners becoming institutionalized as the senior isn’t able to make it outside the prison walls and eventually commits suicide. This pushed the idea that there is no hope even outside the prison walls.
It is also through Tommy that we are shown there is no chance of hope inside the prison either. After spending nearly two decades in prison, Andy finally has a chance to prove he’s innocent as Tommy reveals he knew the guy who really murdered Andy’s wife, but this small chance is quickly snuffed out as Norton has Tommy murdered and covers it up. This is a big change from the novella as Tommy was just transferred away, but it works in the script as this more dramatic moment functions as a catalyst to spur Andy into action. Despite these grave tragedies, Andy clings to his dream of getting out and it feels very impactful against this backdrop of hopelessness.
When taking a story and adapting it into a film, thinking about how it appears on screen is critical and The Shawshank Redemption makes effective use of the visuals it has at its disposal. This pays off in foreshadowing, creating tension, and repetition of imagery. One of my favourite scenes created for the adaptation was when the warden, Norton, comes to inspect Andy’s cell. Before he leaves, he hands Andy back his bible:
While the audience (and Norton) doesn’t know it yet, there is quite a bit of humour to this scene as later it is revealed that Andy had been hiding his rock-hammer inside his bible. The hammer he used to carve a tunnel in his cell wall and was quite literally his salvation.
Taking into consideration the pacing of a scene, the script also does an excellent job at creating tension through a slow reveal of visual information. The night Andy decides to make his escape, we are left with the impression he might be considering suicide after it is revealed he had requested six feet of rope from one of the other inmates. From here we endure a slow progression of scenes that build suspense, much like Red also has to endure the night as he wonders whether or not his friend will still be alive in the morning. We watch Andy uncoiling a rope, Red sitting in the dark, lightning flashing outside, the morning headcount, the guards demanding Andy get out of his cell and into the line, the guard looking into his cell and his face turning to shock. Then we finally get the satisfying payoff as it is revealed that the cell is empty. If it was still unclear as to what had happened to Andy, we get another scene immediately after where Norton goes to put on his nice shoes, only to find Andy’s grimy work shoes in their place, followed immediately by the prison’s sirens going off.
Continuing to use this scene as an example, Darabont also shows skill in his script at guiding our eye through the scenes, all the more enhancing the visuals. When Norton comes to inspect Andy’s cell after his escape, Norton begins throwing Andy’s rock collection in frustration at the walls, but then one of the rocks goes right through a poster on Andy’s wall. Our point of view then transitions to behind the poster where we get the memorable shot of the warden tearing the poster away and looking down the tunnel in shock as the camera pulls back to reveal just how long it is.
The script also makes use of repeated visuals. As mentioned before, Red’s parole hearings are a significant point in the script as it demonstrates Red’s character progression as well as marking the passage of time. While the first two meetings mirror one another, we get a satisfying payoff in the third one as Red finally breaks and gives an honest answer to the question of whether or not he feels rehabilitated.
Another example of repeated imagery is the warden’s framed sampler that hangs on his wall stating: “HIS JUDGEMENT COMETH AND THAT RIGHT SOON.” At first it seems a fitting quote for a warden to have on his wall, as if speaking to the criminals he watches over. But it makes for an interesting visual as we later learn the frame conceals the warden’s own sins as he hides files about his illegal business practices in there, and the last time we see it is when it is splattered with blood after the warden commits suicide following him getting caught in his fraud.
Overall, Darabont manages to utilize a variety of techniques to make his script stand out and he creates not only a satisfying adaptation to Stephen King’s novella, but a great script in its own right. By highlighting the strengths from the source material and utilizing the advantages that a visual medium like film offers, we are treated with a story about a man who never loses his dream of living free. As such, it’s no surprise that The Shawshank Redemption still frequently makes it onto lists as one of the best films of all time with its attention to detail, strong characters, and a solid theme of never giving up on hope.
