In the 25th Hour,
the character played by Ed Norton
has 24 hours before he must begin his seven-year sentence for drug
dealing. As the time nears, he engages
in a long and scathing rant against every group of human beings he can
identify, each ethnic group, religious faith, and each social class in New York
City’s vast and diverse population before he realizes they are not responsible
for who he is or what he has done.
Norton is the central character in Spike
Lee’s post 9-11 masterpiece, but we get a serious look at a trust-fund high
school teacher who is torn by fear more than principle in his desire for a
street-wise, underage, needy student. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the repressed
professor, one of Norton’s best friends.
Norton’s other close friend is a successful and ethically challenged
Wall Street trader, who sees fit to judge others’ ethical behavior. Barry Pepper gives us a preview of his
future role playing a real-life sleaze in Casino
Jack. The underrated Brian Cox plays Norton’s father, whose
life has been inadvertently put in jeopardy by his son’s actions. Rosario
Dawson, Norton’s girlfriend, completes the superb ensemble cast who examine
taking responsibility for one’s actions with regard to others, those close to
you as well as the larger society in which you live. The 2002 film was based on the book of the
same name by David Benioff, who also
wrote the screenplay.
Most films, even many of the good ones, eventually fade
away. Some films, much like the 25th Hour gain respect and audiences as
time passes. The Shawshank Redemption is one that while it was highly regarded
by critics in 1994 when it was first released, it didn’t do well at the box
office. Since then it has continued to
garner praise and viewership, doing very well on cable and especially well on
DVD 18 years later.
Based on a novella by Stephen
King, called Rita Hayworth and
Shawshank Redemption, it made it to the big screen with Tim Robbins as a banker convicted of
his wife’s murder and Morgan Freeman
as the banker’s new prison buddy. The
film, released in 1994, is not fast-paced; but it is solid gold. As a companion piece to the 25th Hour, we
must again think about what it means to lock someone away for years and
years. What does this do to a human
being? Without being a “bleeding
heart,” and clearly understanding that dangerous people need to be separated
from society, the prison system, then and now, can and often is our democracy’s
dirty, little secret.
In this case, we witness a man who has done no wrong on the
outside, switches sides, it appears, on the inside. And we witness a man, played by the
incomparable James Whitmore, who has
spent 50 years on the inside try to adjust to the unfamiliar world
outside. The Shawhank Redemption is about freedom and hope in the most
confining and hopeless conditions.
However, it is not schmaltzy. The
film reminds us how difficult holding on to hope can be.
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
Recommending something to sip while watching these two
intense films is difficult. For the 25th Hour, we can pick up on the “going
away party” with champagne freely flowing.
With The Shawshank Redemption,
we might want to look at the great scene on the hot tar roof, where the
convicts get an unusual gift, ice-cold bottles of “Bohemian” beer.
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