Shawshank Redemption

I was just turning on the TV last Thu when one of the local TV networks re-ran the Shawshank Redemption, a 1994 classic which I never had seen before. After quickly pondering the likely consequences of watching that movie at the cost of not doing other things, I decided to sit and watch! Two hours later (or more with TV ads), I remember thinking to myself, "Great movie!"

The overarching theme is of course HOPE, a crucial thing in a make-or-break context like State Prison. I have been pondering for a long time the tranforming effects of prison on inmates. Many world leaders were somewhat changed or shaped during their prison experiences. Yes, they emerged much stronger individuals with rock solid convictions. From Gandhi to Solhenitzyn to King, Jr to Mandela, just to name a few big names for simplicity sake (though many unknowns had the same experiences).

The main character in this Stephen King's screenplay, Andy Defresne (Tim Robbins), was sent to a prison for a crime he didn't commit. But he brought hope to a bunch of inmates who have lost all hope. "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies", that's what he believed in, which were contagious, sparking new excitement and infusing new meaning of life.

The best part of the movie that I thought was powerful was shown by Brooks, an old inmate who has been inside for 50 years and was now up for his parole, which means he can get out and enjoy life outside prison. However, Brooks has been 'institutionalized", slowly and oddly becoming too comfortable in prison. Days after he was out, he's got a job at a supermarket but grew increasingly insecure and disoriented. He in fact thought of committing a new crime so that he can be sent back to prison.

Here is what his mate told of Brooks "The man's been in here fifty years,... Fifty years! This is all he knows. In here, he's an important man. He's an educated man. Outside, he's nothin'! Just a used up con with arthritis in both hands." The same friend then explained how prison experience shaped Brooks: "These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized... They send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway."

So reluctant was Brooks to enjoy his newfound freedom on the other side of the fence that he ended up hanging himself. That's what happened when hope is lost. A running commentary was again provided by his mate, who also got his parole, but didn't want to end up like Brooks:

There is a harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside. All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole. Terrible thing, to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won't have to be afraid all the time.

I am always fascinated by the question: Why do some people bounce back from difficult circumstances and emerge much stronger, and some give everything up? What makes some so resilient that when they are knocked down, they are not knocked out? Prison is one of those crucible experiences that can make you or break you, but certainly there are many other. Victor Frank's chronicle of his Nazi camp concentration experience provided many clues to this question. These are his words penned in his bestselling book Man's Search for Meaning.

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

He was able to transform his horrible experience into something positive, in the form of logotherapy for which he was known a pioneer in the field, a technique used to treat people who undergo harsh realities of life. Later he wrote that "What is to give light must endure burning.” Which reminds me of Nietzschean maxim that "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

The question remains however why some people can redeem life's darkest moments and popping up on the surface with steel-coated but tender-hearted conviction that can move mountains?