The movie pulls no punches with showing just how brutal life behind bars can be.
- To start, Andy undergoes a decades-long sentence for a crime he didn't commit. Long prison sentences and executions on false charges are unfortunately Truth in Television.
- The Sisters. Bonus points for Bogs actually saying "Get his pants off!" during the first beatdown. The audience is forced to think about what will happen.Red: The Sisters have taken quite a liking to you. Especially Bogs.
Andy: I don't suppose it will help if I explained to them I'm not a homosexual.
Red: Neither are they. You have to be human first. They don't qualify.- There's something inherently chilling about the utterly bland way Red says "Sometimes [Andy] was able to fight [the Sisters] off, sometimes not." This is a man who has totally accepted that prison rape is merely another "routine" that convicts have to go through. It's even worse in the novel, where Red doesn't outright say that he himself has been a victim of rape, but still gives uncomfortably detailed advice about the measures one needs to take to... recover.
- In the novella, Red admits he's speaking from experience.
- Andy getting Bogs to backdown from putting his dick in his mouth by describing the damage he can do to Bogs’s genitals if he stabs him in the head with his knife and that it would be so bad that they would have to pry Andy’s mouth open with a crowbar...
- Bogs for the first time seemed rather afraid if you listen to his voice when he asks Andy: “Where'd you get this shit???”
- Despite all the above, Bogs and his friends still end up beating Andy within an inch of his life and lands him in the prison hospital for over a month.
- There's something inherently chilling about the utterly bland way Red says "Sometimes [Andy] was able to fight [the Sisters] off, sometimes not." This is a man who has totally accepted that prison rape is merely another "routine" that convicts have to go through. It's even worse in the novel, where Red doesn't outright say that he himself has been a victim of rape, but still gives uncomfortably detailed advice about the measures one needs to take to... recover.
- Bogs is an awful human being, but it's still terrifying to see him desperately crawling out of his cell, trying to get away from the guards who are clearly going to beat the living shit out of him, only to be pulled back in screaming for help.
- And, not that you'll feel too sorry for him, his ultimate fate as described by Red - permanently quadriplegic, unable to speak properly anymore (if at all), and has to be fed liquid foods for the rest of his life. Think something along the lines of what happened to Stephen Hawking or Christopher Reeve later in their lives. Makes you more terrified of Hadley and the guards, if anything...
- Byron. Hadley. We already see what a vicious person he is when he brutally beats a new inmate to death just because he kept crying for his mother. Then (albeit he had it coming) he sneaks into Bogs' darkened cell and beats the shit out of him, essentially rendering him a vegetable. Later on, at Norton's orders, he fatally shoots Tommy Williams through the heart due to his knowledge of the real murderer of Andy's wife and her lover. Plus, although we never see it ourselves, it's heavily implied that he beats Andy as well. Namely after Tommy's death, after he's thrown in the hole and Hadley opens his door, his reaction was to cower. Brrr.
- To boot, knowing that and why Tommy was killed, knowing (probably) that Hadley beat the shit out of Bogs, it's possible he thought Hadley was going to kill him too.
- Andy spent two solid months in solitary confinement. Two. Months. Think about it, virtually no human interaction besides getting food, half the time spent with the knowledge that you're responsible (albeit indirectly) for the death of your close friend, and that his killers can make your life a living hell at the drop of a hat if you don't do as they say. It's a good thing he had his escape plan ready to go to help keep himself sane.
- Sam Norton. An utterly sociopathic warden who has Byron under his wing, the film does not shy away from the script's claim of him "looking like he could piss ice water." Norton makes slight effort in hiding his utter cruelty and lack of compassion for his inmates with a Faux Affably Evil demeanor that drops fast and easy. And when it does drop during one confrontation with Andy, he immediately orders him to be put in solitary confinement for a month specifically just because he was called obtuse. His polite exterior is what led to Tommy being shot dead and dooming Andy to remain wrongly convicted, and ol' Sammy made sure to rub it in Andy's face later on. And then, Andy decides that he wants out, cowering before Norton and on the brink of insanity. Finally, Norton's terrifying speech after that...Nothing stops...Nothing. (walks up to Andy and crouches down, pointing a finger at him) Or you will do the hardest time there is... No more protection from the guards. I'll pull ya outta that one-bunk Hilton and cast ya down with the sodomites. You'll think you've been fucked by a train. And the library? (shrugs shoulders slightly) Gone. Sealed off, brick-by-brick. We'll have us a lil' book barbecue in the yard. (smiling at the thought) They'll see the flames for miles. We'll dance around it like wild Injuns. You understand me? Catchin' my drift? ...Or am I being obtuse? [stands up and walks out, then speaks to Hadley] Give him another month [in solitary] to think about it. (smirks and leaves)
- Following this, his affability takes on a whole new sinister light, and completely drains by the time he finds out that Andy escaped, revealing the paranoid and demented Control Freak he really is. His Evil Is Hammy demeanor can be entertaining, but to hear it come from a prison warden is terribly unsettling, especially since his corrupt practices are portrayed dauntingly realistically.
This is a conspiracy. That's what this is. One big DAMN CONSPIRACY! And EVERYONE'S in on it! Including HER! [throws rock at poster, which hides Andy's escape route]- Worse, the Rewatch Bonus: Norton never had a good bone in his body. His Smug Snake interior was always present from the first scene he's in, and was progressively made more apparent with his refusal to even out his deals, supervising the brutal Hadley, so on. It's only when he's outright offended that it's absolutely affirmed that he's just using Dufrense as a slave, not a partner, for laundering cash. Across the film you always felt like he was the Big Bad - and on first watch, you can't expect it until it comes up.
- You can pinpoint the very moment that Norton establishes himself as the real antagonist of the film - "What did you call me?". The exact moment Andy calls him obtuse, he starts slipping out of his Faux Affably Evil demeanor, and when the money laundering is mentioned, he just throws the mask off and decides to go the most vicious route possible to end everything he's done for the prison.
Don't you ever mention "money" to me again, you sorry son of a BITCH! Not in THIS office, NOT ANYWHERE!!! - Elmo Batch, the true culprit who killed Andy's wife and her lover is, despite only appearing in one scene, perhaps the most terrifying character in the movie. A psychotic criminal with an Evil Laugh that have nothing to envy to the Joker's, Blatch murdered Andy's wife and her lover for no reason other than they woke up during his burglary of the lover's house and "gave him shit." The glee and sadism with which he recounts the events to Tommy, and how Andy got framed for his crime are truly shilling, not counting how fast he can go from cold and venomous to joyful and cackling indicating how insane he is. To make things worse he got away with his murders, only getting a light sentence for a burglary, and could very well kill other people once he's free.
- Red ends the film committing his second crime. He was a child when he went to prison, and left an old man.
- Take a look at Andy when Norton confronts him after Tommy's murder. There's blood around his nose. He's got a month's beard and blood. They've spent the month beating him. That's why he scrambles away from the door in terror.
