Five morale boosting movies I’ve come across – Part I

There may be hundreds of movies out there that boost our morale, but we tend to forget more than 95% of them as we move on..

For the past 12 years, I’ve been watching a lot of movies, but five movies are still fresh (or should I say ‘etched’?) in my mind.

Movie 1: The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

Genre: Drama

Cast: Tim Robbins (as Andy Dufresne), Morgan Freeman (as Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding), Bob Gunton (as a corrupt Warden Samuel Norton)

Plot: Andy is a banker who gets wrongly convicted on charges of a double murder, ends up in Shawshank prison. The rest of the story is about how Andy not only survives the nasty prison, but also earns respect among his fellow prisoners. I don’t wanna write more on this, and I suggest you watch the movie if you hadn’t already.

What I like:

Dialogues: What can you expect out of a movie that falls under the drama genre? But Shawshank Redemption stands out, especially in scenes involving Tim Robbins, Bob Gunton and Morgan Freeman. I still remember certain dialogues that are fresh in my memory..

Warden Norton welcoming the convicts

I believe in two things – discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.

Andy telling Red about his intention to escape and setting in Mexico

Red: I don’t think you ought to be doing this to yourself, Andy. This is just shitty pipedreams. I mean, Mexico is way the hell down there and you’re in here, and that’s the way it is.
Andy: Yeah, right. That’s the way it is. It’s down there and I’m in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Get busy LIVING or get busy DIYING, eh!

Red describing Andy’s escape from the prison

Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of s–t-smelling foulness I can’t even imagine. Or maybe I just don’t want to. Five hundred yards. That’s the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.

When Red is released from the prison, he finds the letter that Andy had left in a location that he mentioned before escaping from the prison. I used to rewind and play it back again and again when Red reads Andy’s letter. The words in the letter are crisp, elegant and emotional. You must watch the movie to enjoy the dialogues and their inner meanings.

Characterization: The warden and Andy’s characters have been meticulously crafted, and an equal importance been given to most other key characters in the movie. After watching the movie, I only remember the characters Andy and Norton when I see Tim and Bob in any other movie.

Screenplay: Though the movie is a bit lengthy, it appears taut and even-paced. The scene where the prisoners get their first bath and the first evening gives you morbid thoughts of being an inmate in such a God-forsaken penitentiary.

No wonder it has got an IMDB rating of 9.2/10!

Whenever I glance at the DVD box of this movie, the tag line “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free” gives me positive vibrations and boosts my morale in difficult situations.

Image source: Movie Wallpapers.net