WARNING--POST CONTAINS, BY NECESSITY, SPOILER INFO ON THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
In The Shawshank Redemption, when Andy escapes from the prison, as he discards his clothes and lifts his face to the heavens, reveling in the cleansing rain that pours down upon him, we are rewarded with a triumphant piece of music, the first taste of real triumph we've gotten in the movie or the score, with horns blazing and drums pounding. But almost as soon as it is sounded, that triumphant theme is cut off, and we hear a faint piano underscoring the moment, almost anxiously pattering underneath the storm. The piano theme is not triumphant, or reposed, or the kind of satisfied, "savoring the moment" music we might expect. Instead, it's almost sorrowful, giving off a real sense of sadness, which is exactly right for the moment. Thomas Newman, the composer, is careful not to let the moment get out of hand, and to make sure that the music records the fact that this escape has only come after nearly two decades of hard time. The triumph Andy is feeling is severely undercut buy a realization of what he's lost, whet he's endured, to get there, and the music, very subtly, makes sure we realize this.
Get the score to The Shawshank Redemption, to my mind one of the best scores of the last decade, here.
Until Whenever
1 comment:
They're on my list. I do have his Green Mile (good not great), Meet Joe Black (very good, with a drop-dead heartbreaking romantic theme), and Road to Perdition (good)scores. That stoic theme is an all-time great; I used it as prepatory music in a play once, I'd play that (along with some other things) on headphones right before going on stage.
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