The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, is considered one of the best movies of all time as a result of the powerful hidden themes. The lead character, Andy Dufresne, is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the fictional Shawshank Prison in the state of Maine. Unfortunately, he is innocent and should not have ended up there which relates to how life is not always fair and the corruption within today's society and the prison in this case. He does, however, manage to strive on and find hope and eventually escape from the prison 20 years prior to his conviction. This goes to show how perseverance and persistence are important qualities to keep a hold of in a place where they lack. Andy also managed kept his integrity which allowed him to be a trustworthy person who could help others and in turn earned him friendships from people among the prison.
The idea of a prison is to turn criminals into better people while Shawshank blurs that line between right and wrong and challenges this concept that isolating and reforming criminals will turn them into law-abiding citizens. Instead, the prison is a place where Andy encounters the idea of corruption from not only the prison members but also from among the guards and warden. However, he manages to take advantage of this by gaining the trust of the warden so that he could survive for the duration of his prison life. This allowed him to gain protection from the wardens corrupt side just long enough so that he could frame him at the end. This is relatable to today's society with sports where match fixing occurs a fair amount as a result of greed and bribery between the players and managers. A recent example of corruption from within today's world is with FIFA where they have been exploiting the system for many years. This further suggests how corruption is inescapable no matter where you are.