As I watched Holes again recently, because it was one of my favorite films as a child, it seemed a bit familiar and I didn’t quite know why. Then when the film ended, it hit me. I had seen this exact same film except in a more adult format. At its core, Holes is the same film as the highly praised film, The Shawshank Redemption. Now before you write me off as some crazy theorists, hear me out, the two films have a lot more in common than you may think. First off, both are adaptations of literary works; Holes by Louis Sachar and The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. The protagonists of both films, Stanley Yelnats and Andy Dufresne, are both falsely accused of crimes they did not commit and therefor thrown into prison.
Both heroes have a rough go of it at first adjusting to prison life but their luck begins to change as soon as they make a loyal friend. In the case of Stanley Yelnats, he befriends the camp idiot, Hector “Zero” Zaroni. Andy meets Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, the man who can get you things. In both cases, the hero develops a close bond with their new friend and that friend greatly helps them in return. Both Andy and Stanley take a younger inmate under their wing and teach them how to read. Stanley teaches Zero and Andy teaches the cocky youngster Tommy.Tommy arrives in prison much later after Andy has been imprisoned. Holes also saw a new inmate arrive much later in the story with Twitch. Both inmates were arrested for stealing, one for stealing a tv one for stealing a car.
Both films had a “crew” that the protagonist attaches himself too. These crews help the hero adjust to prison life and more or less create their own dysfunctional family. Each group has their own set of nicknames like Zig Zag, X-Ray, and Armpit as well as Red, Heywood, and Brooks. And because it is a prison, one isn’t going to get along with everyone. Stanley nearly got into a fight with a fellow inmate while Andy fought for his life against Bogs. Both enemies are eventually stopped by people that aren’t the hero.
The facilities themselves are in the middle of nowhere. Shawkshank prison is the middle of a field in Maine with nothing really nearby. Camp Green Lake is in the middle of a dried up lake in Texas. With nothing around, it makes it nearly impossible for anyone to escape. But it doesn’t mean one couldn’t do it.
Both heroes manage to escape their captors, thus prompting a further chain of events. Because of both escapes, outside sources are sent in to investigate the facilities which are not what they appear. Camp Green Lake and Shawshank both are guilty of illegal activity that eventually gets exposed. In both films, it was several head people that were involved in the plots and not just one person. And a slight nit pick that I find ironic is that when the police eventually come both security people, Mr. Sir and the prison guard captain are revealed to have women’s names. Just a funny side note. The heroes eventually acquire great wealth through events from their escape and live their lives as free men. And both men get to have their best friend with them when they get out to life again. So is this just a really big coincidence or something else? Frankly, I don’t care because both films are highly enjoyable with great messages. But it still is interesting to think what other films may have eerily similar stories?
movieguy17 