Mobilities

 The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Based on the novella by Stephen King, Darabont's big-screen adaptation lends the original material's message of hope and perseverance in dazzling fashion to an audience that might very well have missed out on what has since become a classic story. Though bogged down in places with unnecessary detailing, thanks to its lead actors, The Shawshank Redemption never loses its central theming of surviving within a system that is designed to break men, a system where brutal beatings and other hazing becomes commonplace and crime -- paradoxically -- runs amok. 

It may at first seem silly that under the theme of "Mobilities" one should choose a prison film, the type of film that is usually the antithesis of what mobility means. But the similarities between this film and the others this week are striking in their simplicity. In Wah Do Dem, we followed our main character through a period of statelessness, in which his official documents were stolen and he became stranded in the nation of Jamaica with few prospects on the horizon; in La Jaula de Oro, a group of characters experienced similar problems as they traveled from their home country and into another, in a desperate ploy to arrive in the US. The Shawshank Redemption tackles this idea from the opposite perspective, creating a life of simulated statelessness brought about by the hands of one's own country. It isn't so much a physical journey that brings our characters here as it is a spiritual one. Sentenced for life, the prison becomes something of its own community, a nation-state complete with its own type of umwelt and its own behind-the-scenes deals and rules. Though not sanctioned or even acknowledged by the outside world, the reality is very real for our characters. 

It is worth noting, however, that prisoners are still citizens of their nation. In this way, they aren't truly stateless, but because our main characters are felons, they will not be able to enjoy all the same freedoms of regular citizens even if they are released (as Red is towards the end of the film). 

Beyond this, we can see how imprisonment begins to alter the habitus of our characters. All but Andy can no longer imagine life on the outside, because the bulk of their lives have been spent in this drab space that has whittled away at their souls. Perhaps this is the way many of the Jamaican characters in Wah Do Dem felt, as well -- bound to their fates with no chance of escape. One could say the same of Samuel in La Jaula de Oro, who abandoned the group after they were deported back to Guatemala, or  Juan, resigning his life to work in America even after losing all of his friends. After all, what other options do any of these characters have? In this way, Andy becomes an outlier, the only individual who has found and held onto hope, that dull candle in the depths of the darkness. I think that makes The Shawshank Redemption something of a sigh of relief in this three-part showing. 

Lastly, this film gives us a small example of chain migration, such as when Andy orders Red to find a cache left for him in Buxton upon his release. In this, Red finds money and a letter describing where Andy went and asking Red to join him in the Mexican town of Zihuatanejo -- an offer which Red obliges. It's a minor detail, but in the grand scheme of these movies' themes, I think it creates a nice -- if not bittersweet, when we think of the things some characters endured -- send-off to the three of them as a group. 

The Shawshank Redemption (Roger Ebert)

The Shawshank Redemption (Variety)