SHAWSHANK SPIRITUALITY

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things,
and no good thing ever dies.

The spiritual dimensions within the film

This is a site for fans of The Shawshank Redemption who are interested in exploring the spiritual dimensions of the movie that are covertly woven throughout the film.

Like all great works of art that “reach for the stars,” this film has a multi-layered stratum of depth beyond the surface visuals and dialogue. While it draws inspiration from various Saints and Sages, there are two dominant sources that are heavily utilized: The Holy Bible, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. The overall structure of the film is patterned after the three realms of Dante’s classic, with Shawshank Prison as “Inferno,” the “Outside,” “The Brewer,” as Purgatory, and Zihuatanejo as Paradise. The movie addresses many important concepts of the Spiritual life: Hope, despair, conversion, repentance, Metanoia, new Life in Christ, purification and of course Redemption.

Depictions of the states of the soul

Throughout the film, internal states of the soul are depicted externally by elements in the visuals and dialogue. For example, in Red’s first two parole hearings, the board members consist of five males, sitting in a “row,” but in his third hearing, three of the board members sit to form a type of “Trinity,” and a woman is present. Additionally, in his first two hearings, Red’s name is not mentioned, but in the third, he is addressed fully by name: Ellis Boyd Redding.

References to Scripture often appear in slightly modified form by using synonyms, for example “crook” as “thief.” There are also various scenes from the Divine Comedy that are visually re-created or at least implied in the temporal context of the movie.

Ultimately the film addresses the themes of “Hope” and “Redemption” from an interior perspective; the transformational changes that result from an essential turn inward to deeper forms of prayer, classically depicted in Scripture: “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt 6:6).

We are the prisoners depicted in the film

The film is spellbinding and, in a sense, addictive because we intuit, perhaps vaguely, that we are the inmates depicted in the movie. We are prisoners of our own finitude, confined in our fallen / false, egoic self, “walled off” from the Infinite Ground of Being in which we exist. We relate to Red’s frustrating trials of “rejection” because, in our own way, we have all experienced this deflating let down to some degree. We are in search of our own “inner Andy,” the “Inner Christ” that can guide and lead us to a profound “Breakthrough,” a “prison break” of our own that leads to the Redemptive joining of creature and Creator.

The underlying message of the movie is eminently profound: there is a tangible Road of Redemption that can be walked in this life; we all have a “Divine inheritance” that has hitherto gone “unclaimed.” But if we take Andy’s advice, and “trust our wife,” that is, our “Shekhinah,” the inner receptive aspect of our soul, we can receive all of the “Divine Riches” and “Treasures” that God is more than eager to give us. It all comes down to a simple choice: do we trust our inner “wife” or not?

Navigating this Site

• Section 1 of this site (below) features a shortened selection of 16 images that convey some of the most significant moments in the film.
   
• Section 2 (top tab) includes the full 100 “Shawshank Cantos.”
   
• Section 3 contains the lyrics and video to: The Shawshank Prison Redemption Song.
   
• Section 4 features recommended reading and resources.
   

About the Author

Brian Holmberg, M.A., is a fan of movies that present spiritual themes, such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Lord of the Rings, Cool Hand Luke, The Matrix, The Fischer King, etc.