Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

What would have surprised me more than to find out that the great Shawshank Redemption is a Stephen King's product. I had heard a lot bout King and with my love for horror stories, I was excited to read his novels. I started the Shining and couldn't complete it. I guess its a pretty saluted story and movie but frankly I thought it was gross. Perhaps movie comes out fine given Jack Nicholson's rave reviews. I agree that story is creepy as a horror is supposed to be but I resented the ugliness. Anyways, King has been in my 'not so good' books since then. To my surprising discovery, he has written the masterpiece SR.

I came to read the original story 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' as published in King's 'Different Seasons' which is a collection of 4 short stories. The movie is a very close and more than apt reproduction of the writing. The dialogues are taken more or less as it is. Whenever I've wondered what makes SR so special, I have just got one answer - its awe-inspiring climax. The optimism and portrayal of hope in such an intelligent fashion leaves the audience with a overwhelming feeling of justice, survival and salvation. What a magnificent finale! And what is more wonderful is the fact that it gives an impression that every wrong in everybody's life has been all of a sudden punished and every justice long-pursued is done.

The book is definitely more descriptive and gives u a better insight into the characters which helps but as all would agree, the movie has done complete justice to the story. The movie benefits from the excellent casting and its beyond me how it didn't win a single Oscar. The finesse that King shows in defining the characters is commendable. If I ever write a story, I would rather achieve such deftness than all the drama. I can go on and on applauding King and Frank Darabont but I have to sleep. I'll just quote the tagline -

"Fear can hold you prisoner, Hope can set you free."