肖申克是监狱的名字,救赎是指心灵的拯救。
贯穿全线的“三次救赎”
redemption，救赎，并不只是andy本身，从某种意义上来说，他不但拯救了自己，也拯救了他的狱友。他对狱友的拯救，表现在一种精神上的拯救，因为他一定程度上使他的周围的人明白了，追求自由和希望的可贵－－red就是其中一个典型。两个对自由持有一样的寄望，但有着不同态度的人，构成 了全片的主线。三次“redemption”如下：
第一次是他帮助狱警HADLEY逃税，为狱友赢得每人3瓶啤酒的奖励。 “We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders, and felt like free men. We could'a been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the Lords of all Creation.”... “You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again...if only for a short while.” 这时，你看到了T.Robbins第一次露出笑容。毕竟，自由总是最快乐的，同时也代表一种自我价值的实现。每个人都有这种需要，使自己有重要感。
第二次则是本片中最为精彩的一part，他在狱警办公室放“费加罗的婚礼”（Le Nozze de Figaro）。这个片段看似平静如水，但 实则激情四射，杀伤力极强，最能使你两眼发热。 “I have no idea to this day what them two Italian ladies were singin' about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singin' about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.”...“I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away... and for the briefest of moments -- every last man at Shawshank felt free.” 这次，andy的微笑是一种带有胜利感的微笑。他利用自己在狱警中的价值以及依此得到的信任，再次给他的朋友，带来自由的感觉－－哪怕是一刹那。 “There are things in this world not carved out of gray stone. That there's a small place inside of us they can never lock away, and that place is called hope.”
第三次，他为监狱建立了一个图书馆。为了得到第一批书，他每周一封信，连续写了六年。然后他增加到每周两封，在andy入狱的第二个十年间，图书馆落成。这也是一个划时代的胜利，这个胜利的影响是深远的。大概也是在这个时候，Tommy出现了，剧情也随之发生了转折。
Tommy被杀后，andy从hole中出来，临脱狱的一天，和red的对白非常耐人寻味。在逃离此处之前，andy反思了自己的错误，妻子的死 他要负一定责任。
“I killed her, Red.”... “I didn't pull the trigger. But I drove her away. That's why she died. Because of me, the way I am.”当谈及以后的打算时，经过近40年的煎熬，red显得很沮丧（并且如果你比较20年、30年、40年这三次听证，你会发现 M.Freeman表演的细腻之处）。 “I couldn't hack it on the outside. Been in here too long. I'm an institutional man now. Like old Brooks Hatlen was.”... “In here I'm the guy who can get it for you. Out there, all you need are Yellow Pages. I wouldn't know where to begin.” 他对希望怀有恐惧－－因为他也曾拥有希望。但他明白，希望越大，失望越大。很多时候，这也是使我们裹足不前和抱有消极思想的原因。然后andy用一个精辟 有力的句子，结束了两人的谈话：“Get busy living－－or get busy dying.”这句话甚至可以视为全剧的中心思想。
这里不得不提一下的是，逃狱前后的片段处理得很好。red总是担心andy会自杀。面对绝望，有人选择死，因为这意味着一种解脱－－导演在这里也 有引导观众往“死”那个方向想的倾向，似乎是想和观众开个玩笑－－但对于那些真正想获得自由的人来说，会选择另外一条路，一条真正通往自由的路。
其后，norton自杀，“HIS JUDGMENT COMETH AND THAT RIGHT SOON.”这句话非常有讽刺意味。而从 andy脱狱成功到red出狱后的这一段戏，完全是对M.Freeman演技的考验。M.Freeman的独白和表演总是给人一种看破红尘，炉火纯青的感 觉，为本剧增色不少。（王家卫也在《重庆森林》、《春光乍泄》等片中用过独白的手法，但梁朝伟的表现似乎还是稍欠火候。）从在狱中： “Sometimes it makes me sad, though, Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are just too bright...”到最后他打开盒子，决定到 Zihuatanejo找他的朋友andy，说出内心最后的独白： “I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain...” 均可以看出他的深厚功力。
显然，这并不是一部简单的、纯粹的商业片－－虽然它确实带来很高的商业成就－－1995年全美影带租售冠军。但除却票房，它带来的信息量也是很大 的。比如“价值”就是该片带来的一个重要信息。出狱监犯的人生价值何在？Brooks（老布）的从出狱到自杀，也是催人泪下的一个片段。正如red所说， 他已经长期的监狱生活institutionalized（“体制化”）了。 “Man's been here fifty years. This place is all he knows. In here, he's an important man, an educated man. A librarian. Out there, he's nothing but a used-up old con with arthritis in both hands. Couldn't even get a library card if he applied. You see what I'm saying?”...“Believe what you want. These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's "institutionalized."”
珍惜你的自由，也是本片所要表现的主旨之一。red是这样评价自己的： “I'm the only guilty man in Shawshank.”他最后一次在HEARINGS ROOM所说的，他对自己所做的一切， 深感悔恨。“Not a day goes by I don't feel regret, and not because I'm in here or because you think I should. I look back on myself the way I was...stupid kid who did that terrible crime...wish I could talk sense to him. Tell him how things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, this old man is all that's left, and I have to live with that.”
其实，人生本身不就是一个监狱吗？我们每个人，有哪个不是被社会institutionalized“体制化”的产物？该片的电影原版海报上写着 这样一句话：“Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”这使我想起前段时间的一本畅销 书：《谁动了我的奶酪》：“克服你内心的恐惧，改变你自己，释放你自己。”
温馨提示：答案为网友推荐，仅供参考