Red's parole hearings in The Shawshank Redemption

I'm not sure if I'd agree with parts of Wbogacz answer. The Humility part specifically. I always got a more resigned vibe from Red.

He doesn't believe that the board will really grant his parole, and as such doesn't see the point in lying to them. He is honest, sincere and expresses true regret for his actions, rather than trying to convince the board that he's been "Rehabilitated" as he did in the prior attempts.

I don't think there was any intimidation either. If I recall the scene correctly, Red sat in a relaxed pose for the interview, not in a leaning forward threatening manner.

This is purely my opinion on parole, and may not be the opinion of the scene's author:

Parole is a play, acted out by two battle-weary combatants - the parolee who wants to get out his prison cell at all costs, and the bureaucrat who wants to get out of his prison cell at all costs, too. Remember prison confines those on both sides; the prisoner's walls are physical, the parole board's walls are mental or metaphysical. However, the bureaucrats understand that at the end of the day, they go home, and this is the only true superiority to the prospective parolee. To be superior is easy, to feel superior, they have to find some achnowledgment that there is still someone "below".

Red has finally come to understand this. He doesn't try placating the bureaucrat as he did in the first attempts with fake sincerity, but by demonstrating true humility to the board. He finally conveyed that he understood their superiority, though a weak position it truly is. His speech demonstrated that acceptance, and they could come to accept him as sincere.

In previous hearings he seemed a bit cocky and not at all sorry for what he'd done. Therefore they judged that he needed more time in prison.

At the last hearing he definately had an air of penitence and he was truely sorry for what he had done. At this point the panel recognised that the term he had served had served it's purpose, he'd realised that what he'd done was wrong and therefore they judged him ready for release.

I think Red finally got paroled because the parole board wanted to prove that parole does exist, and is not just a "made up B.S." word. Basically they showed him that there is integrity in the system. Another speech he could have made is "What is the point of these hearings? I already know how you are going to stamp the forms" Finally, this is a unique answer, which they have never heard before.

I think it's because for the first time he acts human.

Any animal will do exactly what you want them to do for a treat. But a human has respect for him or herself and character. They where not going to release a caged animal. They needed to see his humanity.

I think part of the reason is that the parole officer at that hearing is more humane than the ones before. At the start, he asks Red to "Please sit down" and not command him to "Sit!", or say nothing at all like the previous officers did. He also realizes that "rehabilitated" does not say a lot. Was Red really repentant for what he did? - is the better question. Red answers that quite eloquently. Which leads to the officer granting his parole.

So, there was a little bit of luck there. Red's run of luck continues further. His boss at the grocery store is kind and considerate as well (contrast this with Brooks Hatlen's boss who was quite harsh on the old man :-( ). Red gets a ride to Buxton from a good Samaritan. And he is lucky to find Andy's letter and the money to travel to Fort Hancock and hence to freedom.

My view has always been that he is now seen as honest, genuinely sorry, reflective and broken. Broken in the sense like a stray dog or a wild horse. Tamed, compliant, no longer a threat. He is institutionalised now, he no longer seeks or even want's freedom he just want's to go back to his cell.

The two previous parole hearings he was 'yes sir' 'no sir' 'never happen again sir' pleading to be let out. Now he is just a harmless old man who calls him a young fella and 'sonny' and insults his job and the system because he no longer cares what happens to him.

It is beautifully written and performed and my favourite scene from my favourite film.

Definitely not due to intimidation. Just the sheer humanity and realization that he regrets and understood the price he has paid (a lifetime) for his crime. He was no longer in denial or pretending to fit it. The board saw fit that he did enough time.

This scene is a great scene because Red would never attempt an escape. He needed to be granted parole to continue the long-shot of him and Andy continuing their friendship on the outside.

I love this movie. A move about perseverance. About survival. And about friendship. It's a classic, perfectly cast, perfectly directed.

No matter how many times I've seen it, I still get a lump in my throat at the end. Never fails. Just like Rudy. What other movies make us react this way?

I honestly think the third time he gets released because it's just a more progressively thinking decade. When he expressed his feelings in the first two hearings it was partly because the parole board was racist and partly because he had made it to Shawshank on his own and was serving time. Then after the two hearings, it's the 60s and he doesn't care: and neither do they, inside and outside things were changing.

I mean I think that's just a small part but that's a part of it. Stephen King was kind of a dick then.

I had pondered this question, too. I debated whether it may have just been a more compassionate parole board, or that he had convincingly shown remorse, but neither of those seemed to have any rationale or symbolism that would link it to the overall theme of the show -- i.e., Everything associated with Shawshank seems geared to take away or crush the human spirit.

A few examples from the movie designed to show this that I can think of off the top of my head would be: The resigned attitude of the prisoners to seeing 'Fat Ass' beaten to death. The scene where Andy's talking about music, puzzled that other prisoners don't seem to care about being reminded of life outside the prison walls. Red scolding Andy about how 'hope' is a dangerous thing to have on the inside. Brooks having lost all desire to ever leave Shawshank.

Thus, I concluded that Red's parole was intended to show a sort of irony -- that it was only after he had lost all hope, when it was obvious he felt he had nothing left worth fighting for and nothing to lose by remaining at Shawshank for the rest of his days -- that the parole board finally saw fit to release him.

After all, at each previous hearing, Red had been eager and hopeful, wanting to see the outside world and to rejoin the living once again. He still had a 'spark'. I took his approved parole to mean that only when they were satisfied that they'd succeeded in taking that away from him, did they finally grant him release.