The movie is about two main characters who are in prison together- one is innocent and one is guilty. Both were convicted for murder. Beyond the stories of these two men and their friendship, the movie gives a very bleak (I would argue fairly realistic) picture of the USA's justice system.
The obvious example is that Andy gets convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and gets two life sentences even though he's innocent. It gets worse from there. The prisoners aren't treated as human beings and their dignity and identities are stripped from them. They are physically beaten by the top guard- one man loses the use of his legs and another dies after having to wait until the morning to see the doctor in the infirmary because he had already gone home.
What was perhaps most infuriating to me was every ten years the men get a release hearing in which they are asked if they feel they have been "rehabilitated." At that point in the movie I was ready to throw something. I was just thinking, "how dare they!"
How dare they ask them if they have been rehabilitated by this convoluted, twisted, unjust system!
Many of God's prophets in the Old Testament speak on justice and it is addressed by Jesus in the New Testament as well. And yet as I sat in that discussion after the movie, not one person mentioned it.
Maybe it's my sociological understanding and view of the world. I tend to see structures before individuals and I'm more critical of systems. But, I would also like to think it's my belief that my God is a God of justice.
In fact, the hardest part of believing in God for me is trying to understand where he is in injustice. Why does he let it happen? People are stuck in these systems. People are dying in these systems.
How are we, as Christians, letting it happen?
Are we ignoring it? Do we not see it?
Do we spend so much time in our safe little circles that we miss the hurting and the oppressed?
I don't know. All I know is, now is the time to open our eyes.
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." Matthew 23:23
"This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place." Jeremiah 22:3
No comments:
Post a Comment