Bring on the tough stuff. There’s not just one right answer.
- Andy is pretty calm, cool and collected during his trial. Did that hurt him? If you're on trial for murder, and your freedom hangs in the balance, should you show the court more emotion, more passion?
- Shawshank makes a point of trying to rehabilitate its inmates. Can a hardened criminal ever be truly rehabilitated, or is he just a bad seed who's going to stay bad?
- The warden insisted he was a very religious man, and insisted that "salvation comes from within." Was he just a total hypocrite, or could one actually reconcile his behavior and actions with the words he preached?
- Just when Andy finally has all the guards on his side, he risks the progress he's made by locking himself in an office and putting on a record for the whole prison to hear. Plus, it gets him in uber-trouble with the warden. Why was it worth it to Andy to spend weeks in The Hole just for a few minutes of opera?
- Red gets upset when Andy starts talking about having hope. If you were in a similar situation, would you consider hope a good or a bad thing to have?
- The people in charge of running Shawshank are just as vile and crooked as those incarcerated there. Do you think this is exaggerated for the sake of the story? Is it typical for those in a position of power to take advantage of their authority?
- What does the director do to help us feel sympathy for the prisoners?
- How would the viewing experience be different if we knew about Andy's escape attempts all along rather than Red's flashback narrative?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, is Morgan Freeman's voice off the charts?