Plot
The movie compared to the story itself was pretty similar.One difference was that the book left the audience guessing if Andy was actually guilty or not. The movie shows that he had a chance at a re-trial. This shows that he may in fact be not guilty. Both showed how Andy was able to escape prison through the sewer system and tunnel.
Point of View
The point of view the story and movie was from the character Red. He gives the audience the notion that he doesn't know whether Andy was truly guilty or innocent. What makes the movie great is that you can actually see what Andy does, instead of coming from stories told from Red himself. You can really get a feel of how Andy reacts to everyone around him and how quiet and shallow he may seem at first. This also doesn't help him because this allows the warden to say that Andy is too self centered. Because the Warden says this, Andy is then not allowed a re-trial to prove his innocence.
Characterization
Andy in the story made him out to be a very shallow and quiet man. That he rarely if ever showed emotion. The movie although made him out to be much more outgoing then his story counter part. One major key element was that it took a few months for Andy to ask Red for a hammer, when it took 7 years in the story. This element really changes the timetable for each the story and movie. Red was shown to be more forgiving as a character from a audience perspective from the movie then the more evil counter part of his past in the story.
Setting
Both the movie and story kept the main setting of the high security prison. The story and movie does a great job making the stories told by Red and the situation of Andy more realistic and dramatic as well as interesting. It really sets the tone for each character and the dark past that haunts them and the struggles and pain that they go through everyday. Because the story and movie was based in the mid 1990's, it made it a bit more realistic for this type of prison escape to be made possible. If it was a story in the modern era, it would be allot more unrealistic. This is what makes this setting just perfect.
Theme
The theme that was shown in the story was hope. The theme that was displayed in the movie was hope as well. the desire of Andy to lead a better life then in jail is what gave the notion of both story and movie to have hope. Andy had a bad misfortune and was blamed for something he didn't do, or believed by the audience he didn't do anyways. and yet he still was able to show a great amount of hope to escape and live out his dream. He showed great persistence and his escape efforts and what he did and what he went through was evidence enough that this man saw the hope he still had in his life and went after it.
