Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption

There has been a movie in my mind for the last couple of months – The Shawshank Redemption. Maybe it is because I stumbled upon the quote “You get busy living or you get busy dying” and it struck a chord or maybe because it made me think of Andy Dufresne crawling through 500 yards of shit to get to freedom. I’m not sure. Either way the movie is epic. While not being a big reader, I was drawn to, no I was compelled to get my hands on the book, Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption, and read it. During my search for the book I realised that it was only one short story among others in Stephen King’s book Different Seasons. I bought it online and the wait began. Upon its arrival, I immediately read the first page and instantaneously I could see Morgan Freeman’s face and hear his voice as ‘Red’ narrated the words. Suffice to say, the moment I got home I read the story from start to finish, though not without some remarkable and curious occurrences. The first surprise was that pages 9 – 40 were missing entirely. Gone. In context, with my overzealous enthusiasm and passion for the story this was akin to someone deliberately wiping out a chapter of Andy’s life in some cruel and deliberate act of complete disregard, disrespect and utter disdain. How was it possible? Fortunately for me I knew the basics of the story so could fill in the gaps but for the integrity of the book in my hands I considered it as part of my ‘experience’ as Red talked me through the life of Andy, and as a result, his own. The second surprise was to find that a character called Briggs features in this masterful story. Briggs is the manager of the marina that employed the actual murderer of Andy’s wife and her lover, Elwood Blatch. Through this connection, Briggs becomes a critical part of Andy’s attempts to be exonerated and thereby a key to his freedom. Unfortunately for Andy (And for Briggs), his attempts are scuppered by the warden and his spirit is once again broken.

So what’s the point of my story? I think what truly resonates is the basics of the story and then the way the author and thereafter the director build on it and turn it into inspiration. The basics are that a highly successful man who is seemingly living the dream, has his life torn apart by the infidelity of his wife. His bad decisions resulting from this experience destroy is life even further and all hope seems lost. Somehow he maintains dignity throughout and in the end he finds a content existence far removed from what he once had and from who he once was.

The beauty of the story reaches further and for me it takes me on a journey not unlike life. In that regard, the life lessons in the story are plentiful and it reads like a list of adult morals and values:

• When you think life is turning out the way you planned, it often doesn’t.
• Sometimes pages 9 – 40 of your life will be completely taken away.
• Sometimes pages 9 – 40 of your life are a part that you would rather not have had, and yet they are part and parcel of who you have turned out to be.
• You can lose your wife, your freedom, your dignity and your wealth and yet still choose to be the better man.
• Your biggest enemy can hold power over you and even publicly humiliate you, but with a sound and methodical approach, you can emerge victorious.
• Set a goal, however outrageous, and work towards it. While others may think you are crazy the good ones will share your joy when you achieve it.
• When you have a goal, create other avenues and activities that will encourage you to pursue it and that will compliment it. Andy had freedom as a goal and he used a hobby to give him knowledge, keep him motivated, and probably give him immense satisfaction as it distracted onlookers and kept his real motives hidden.
• Giving others respect, a feeling of value and importance, and just the smallest token of consideration, will have a profound and long lasting effect, far greater than the actual deed is capable of.
• Hope remains the constant thread in this story, and hope is one of the very few feelings that are only extinguished internally because for all the external influences and forces acting out upon it, that tiny glimmer that remains within is sometimes all that is left and yet it has the power to start again and turn into something beyond our wildest dreams.

Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption puts loss in context, makes adversity conquerable and shows that true character and determination will win the day. It also gives us an average guy and turns him into everyone’s hero simply by allowing him to get up every time he gets knocked down and in the end, to beat the odds, buck the system that let him down and abandoned him, and find his peace in Zihuatanejo. This is not a movie review, this is a reflection on the resonating effect the movie and book have had on me. Who directs the movie of my life? I don’t know, perhaps I will find that out once its done. I do know that I am the main actor and that I have a hand in writing the script. I also know there are no stunt doubles or second takes. Am I in a cell? Have I broken through a wall? Am I staring into a 500ft long, dark and narrow pipe full of shit? I don’t know that either. Maybe I am somewhere in between. I do know that wherever I am in my movie I have to get busy. Robert Frost gets mention in the book and perhaps two of his quotes are most pertinent as they seem to sum up the trials and tribulations of Andy Dufresne and probably most of the rest of the world. He said “In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: it goes on” and “The best way out is always through”.

And there you have it, probably more notes to self than anything else but one thing is certain – Stephen King has done something extraordinarily special here. And me? Why, I am off to get busy living. I hope.