Movies You Should Watch Before Suicide: The Shawshank Redemption

On a rather well-known website, I saw a list of films entitled "Before You Wanna Commit Suicide, Watch These First".  I was intrigued.  So, I took a look at the list.  There were 692 titles.  I don't know about anyone else, but, that seems to me to be something of an absorbitant list.  It got me to thinking about what would make these movies something a person should see in the face of considering suicide.  (According to the author of the list, it's not really about preventing anyone from killing themselves or dying or whatever.  It's just a list of really, really good movies that you really, really should see.  A better way of saying it might be "Movies You Should See Before You Die", or something like that.  You know, like a movie "bucket list".)  Actual intentions notwithstanding, the title got me to thinking about what it actually said.  As I examined the list, I asked myself, "What would I like to see if I were actually considering ending my life?"  Of course, being the habitual over-thinker that I am, I started to categorize what I might look for in that state of mind.  I narrowed it down to two categories that seemed appropriate.  Inspiration or escape.  Or some combination of the two. 

For myself, were I to reach a state of mind where suicide was an acceptable option, my choice of movies (if I were to go the route of seeking solace in movies) would be about "taking the edge off".  It would be about minimizing the depression or despair that would accompany the consideration of suicide.  Hence the resort to inspiration or escape.  This helped me to thin out the choice of films quite considerably. 

The first of the films on the list that fit either one or some percentage of both of the aforementioned categories was "The Shawshank Redemption".  As a matter of note, I would place this film in the category of inspirational (specifically with respect to the aforementioned state of mind).  The setting of this film is something that I would consider a bit "dark".  Its "darkness", however, wouldn't be about any level of evil, but about the despair present in the circumstances of the main character.  This would probably be why I might be attracted to this kind of movie in that state of mind. 

Based on a short story by Stephen King, "The Shawshank Redemption", directed by Frank Darabont, starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, and James Whitmore, tells of a young banking executive who is wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover.  During his time in prison, he is victimized by a prison gang on a regular basis until his friendship with an entrepreneurial inmate provides an opportunity to reap unexpected benefits from his knowledge and experience as a finance executive.  After enduring 19 years of prison life, usable evidence of his innocence in the form of a cellmate-to-cellmate confession from the true killer of his wife and her lover comes to his attention.  But his hopes are dashed by the warden who is exploiting his financial experience for his own gain.  After being cruelly punished for his protests, he decides enough is enough. 

"The Shawshank Redemption" is a well told story of adversity and triumph.  The shock of the realization of the worst development in a person's life can be seen on the face of the main character at the moment of his sentencing.  The look of one forced to the realization that his life, for all intents and practical purposes, is over, punctuates the beginning of the film and his journey through the 19 years of trials and triumphs that make up his incarceration.  Adversity meets triumph as the oppression at the hands of "the sisters" is brought to an end by the allies he makes among the corrupt guards.  Triumph meets adversity when hope of his release is answered with cruel punishment.  Between these points and throughout the film, there is both the turbulent struggle to survive prison life and the execution and fruition of a long term, quietly implemented plan.  All of which is topped off with an awesome touch of vengence and justice.  What makes the "cherry on top" at the end of the movie is that the story, which began in the gloom of prison walls, ends on a bright sunny beach under an open, clear sky, next to a boundless ocean.  If this doesn't make you feel better, nothing will.

I can't tell you much more about this movie without telling you the entire film.  Being the well told story that it is, it is easy to get caught up.  One of the things that stood out to me was the portrayal of the despair that is a part of long term incarceration.  In the course of the story, one of the characters, after serving 50 years, is released on parole.  Having been incarcerated as a relatively young man, he is released as a senior citizen.  Surprisingly enough, he has no wish to be released.  He has become what the main character's friend describes as "institutionalized".  Prison life has become the whole of his existence.  Life outside of prison fills him with fear.  Unable to adapt, he is overwhelmed by futureshock.  When the main character's friend is released after 40 years, he experiences the same fear and loneliness.  That is, until he remembers the favor the main character asked him.  "The Shawshank Redemption" is a story with stories in it, all of them good, and all of them connected in one way or another.

If I were of a mind to end my life, and of a mind to seek solace in film, this would be one I might choose.  Watching this would have the potential to take enough of the edge off to get me to change my mind.                                 

"What If" Movies

In my limited view of things I've noticed, over time, a variety of movies that, though existing in rather small numbers, are what I would call a great answer to that wonderful variety of juvenile conversation that never seems to get old.  I don't know if there's actually a proper name for them and I haven't met anyone who's given them any kind of nickname.  What I do know is that, when I find myself in one (like I did when I was a kid), I can never seem to get enough of it.  Much to my amusement and gratification, there are a few movies that paint very entertaining pictures of the kind of questions and suppositions that I and the friends of my childhood used to love to debate about in our collective daydreams. 

For the sake of identification, I'll call them "what if" movies.  They both ask and answer the kinds of questions and comparisons that come up in these kinds of conversation.  "'What if'" this character and that character were to fight each other?"  "Who do you think would win?"  "'What if'" this character and that character were to team up?" . . . and on and on.  Since I was a kid, and all the way up to now, I've been joyfully indulging in conversations and comparisons of this kind about comicbook and literary characters, movies and TV shows.  I do realize that the producers and directors of the these films, most likely, didn't make them for the purpose of addressing these gratifying daydreams, but, perhaps without trying, they did a pretty good job of it. 

Over the past 30 years there have been a few films, that are personal favorites of mine, which fit quite nicely into the category of "what if".  The first of these films to draw my attention to the "what if" quality that I would begin to notice was Disney's "Tron". 

"What if" . . . a man was somehow pulled in and trapped inside a computer.  (Not just the device, but the program environment itself.)  I know.  It sounds like a geeky question.  But, geeky or not, it made for a good movie. 

Walt Disney's "Tron" was released in 1982.  The film starred Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes.  A talented computer programmer, Kevin Flynn, employed at a large successful software firm produces a number of highly marketable video games in his spare time only to have them stolen by a rival in the work place.  He is subsequently cheated out of any profit from the games and is fired from the company in an attempt to hide the fraud.  Aided by his friends in his quest to find the evidence that he invented the video games, Flynn finds himself pulled into the computer and forced to fight for his life. 

With the aid of a security program called Tron, Flynn takes on the Master Control Program that's trying to kill him.     







Back when this film came out, I just couldn't get enough of it. 

I saw this movie as often as I could, whenever I could.  I was in school studying computers at the time that this film came out.  Seeing it increased my enthusiasm for the field.  Being what it was at the time that it was, I found the special effects enthralling. 

A number of years later, another movie came out that somewhat mildly qualified as a "what if" film that was equally as enthralling by virtue of both its story and its special effects.  The story had its similarities to Tron's, but the direction was kind of in the opposite direction.   

"'What if' . . . someone/you woke up and discovered that your world was computer generated?" 

Warner Brothers' "The Matrix" had something of a significantly more involved and developed story than Disney's "Tron", if only by virtue of progression of the two sequels that followed.  But, the question is there nontheless.  And the answer that the story provides is down right amazing. 

Warner Brothers' "The Matrix" was released in 1999 and starred Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving.  A computer hacker encounters a group of fugitives that show him that his world, his reality is not what it appears.  He discovers that he has been existing inside a computer generated world and that his body is being used as a source of power by its creators.   

 

It can be argued that its sequels place it outside the category of a "what if" film, but , I would hold on to that classification for this film just by virtue of how the story unfolds



In 2003, a film was released that screamed "what if".  To this day it holds a place among my most favorite action movies.  It involved a collection of victorian age characters currently well known in literature and film that find themselves teamed up in an effort to save the world. 

"'What if' . . . Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Dorian Gray, and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde were teamed up?  And, just to make it interesting, what if we added someone who had been turned by Dracula, like Mina Harker?  (I guess including the vampire himself would be a little too much.) 

Angry Film's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was released in 2003 and starred Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, and Richard Roxburgh. 

Allan Quatermain leads a team of unique individuals against an arms merchant known as "The Phantom" in an effort to avert a world war. 

 

 

I thought the inclusion of Captain Nemo's Nautilus and what was made another of his chronologically premature technological innovations, the "automobile", was a nice touch. 

 

 

All of these movies were fun to watch.  The special effects, the technology being what they were at the respective times of release, gave just enough of a touch of realism to make them all a great get-away for a couple of hours.  

 

 



 

 

 

When Your Sorry That It's Over

One of my earliest memories ever is of myself sitting on a carpeted floor in front of a 1950's/ '60's floor model television in all of its monochromatic glory.  The images on it were beyond my comprehension at the time, but as I got older and continued to remember what I saw, I came to understand what it was I was watching.  I, and my parents, were watching Star Trek.  It was the original series.  And we were watching the episodes on their original broadcast dates.  (Yes, I realize I'm dating myself.)  I had no idea what I was looking at, but I know my parents (at least one them) liked it.  It was on every evening until they canceled it.  When I was a little older (and geekier) I watched the reruns.  From that I moved on to vintage, grade B sci-fi movies.  I had developed a healthy taste for science fiction even though, at the time, I didn't realize it.  From there I moved on to other genres of what were becoming even more vintage films.  I didn't know why (and didn't stop to think about it) but, I found that I really enjoyed watching the older films.  Of course, at the time, as the family had graduated to the use of color TVs, the only criteria I had developed for determining the age of a movie was whether or not it was a black and white film.  A quality that was now made quite obvious by the TV.  As I got older and my tastes and expectations evolved, my taste in movies expanded, and by this time (my late adolescence), I was quite well settled in my interest in movies and television. 

Now, significantly later in my life, my interest in films and television is predicated on slightly more developed criteria.  It should be understood that I am, for all intents and practical purposes, an escapist.  I don't consider myself a serious one as my escapism doesn't really exist outside the realm of movies and TV.  Even then it only lasts as long as what I'm watching.  But, I'm still an escapist just the same. 

There are two basic elements that I watch for in a film or TV show.  The first is: "Does it take my mind off of the world?"  There are times when this can be a rather critical element.  But, if the story is well written and I'm able to identify well with the characters, it's not so big an issue.  The second isn't really that important, but, it does lend a great deal to whether or not I enjoy what I'm watching and will watch it again.  There have been some movies that I've enjoyed so much that when they were over, I found myself feeling a touch of sadness, not because the story was sad, but because the movie was over.  There has been the odd film that, when the words "The End" showed up on the screen, or the credits started rolling, left me feeling almost choked up.  I was sorry that it was over.  There are a great many movies that I've watched that I thought were a really good watch.  But, I didn't have that feeling when the movie was over.  For me, when that feeling is there, it doesn't matter what the movie's about, it doesn't matter how old or new it is, it doesn't matter who's in it.  If the film was shot just the right way (whatever that may be), if the story was written just the right way, if the characters were played just the right way, if it all came together just so . . . seeing "the end" or the credits would try to choke me up and it was guaranteed that I was going do what I could to see that movie again or, when possible, purchase the film so I could watch it as much as I wanted.  There is no specific formula that I'm aware of that gives a movie this quality.  As far as I know now, this is something that just happens when the conditions are right in the creation of a movie; when all of its parts and elements come together just right. 

For me, this is one of the things that fits a film or a TV show into the category of "great".  I know I've been watching a great movie or TV show when I'm sorry that it's over; when it has made me forget about what's going on around me for the hour, or two hours, or however long it is, and I'm sorry to see the credits.