The Shawshank Redemption
1.The Shawshank Redemption -pretty much a definitive ACT movie for me! (I recently watched it again within an ACT framework!!)
2. 6 Hexaflex points.
3. As illustrated by:-
CONTACT WITH THE PRESENT MOMENT: Beautifully illustrated in the scene when Andy plays Mozart over the prison and the everybody just stops and listens ( 1 point).
SELF AS CONTEXT: As a punishment for playing the music, Andy is placed into solitary confinement and after his release he tells his fellow convicts that he “had Mr. Mozart to keep me company...[points and taps his head.] It was in here …[gestures over his heart] and in here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?” Red (Morgan Freeman)says that he played the Harmonica as a young man, but lost interest in it and that it didn’t make much sense playing it in prison – Andy says “No, here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget”. “Forget?” asks Red, “That there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's... there's somethin' inside that they can't get to; that they can't touch. It's yours” says Andy (self as context / pure awareness – 1 point).
DEFUSION:Fusion is illustrated when Red says “I’ve been in here most of my life. I’m an institutional man now…just like Brooks was”. Andy replies ““you underestimate yourself” and Red says “I don’t think so” (1 point)
COMMITTED ACTION AND VALUES: Andy talks to Red about his vision of life in a little town in Mexico and life as a free man – he focuses on owning a hotel and a boat (which are goals but I’m sure we could find some values in there somewhere!!) Red (‘passenger on the bus’) says “I don’t think you ought to be doing this to yourself, Andy. I mean mexico is way down there and you’re in here and that’s the way it is”. Andy replies “Yeah right. That’s the way it is. It’s down there and I’m in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice really…get busy living…or get busy dying”. (highlighting the reality gap between where he is and where he wants to be – within the valued domain of freedom (2 points?)
ACCEPTANCE: Spoiler alert (!) Towards the end of the movie when red is up for parole his rehabilitation officer asks red if he’s been rehabilitated. Red replies “Rehabilitated?... Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means”. The rehabilitation officer informs Red that it means he is “ready to rejoin society” and Red says “ I know what you think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made-up word. A politician's word, so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did? The rehabilitation officer asks “are you?” and Red replies “There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here; or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So go ahead and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit (some acceptance in there!? – 1 point)
MORE COMMITTED ACTION: “ I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head (defusion!) I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain I hope I can make it across the border (do what it takes!).. I hope to see my friend (values), and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope”