Review of The Shawshank Redemption (1994) by Rob S — 09 Jan 2016

The Shawshank Redemption will be the highest praised film by the general public for decades to come. It is very tough to dislike this film; perhaps there are some that find it overrated, but its message speaks to anybody who has a heart and soul.

Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) befriends Red (Morgan Freeman) shortly after he is convicted to serve two life sentences for the murder of his wife and her lover. He is somewhat of a mystery to Red since he does not seem like a murderer at all and goes out of his way to improve Shawshank prison by attempting to establish a better library in the prison by himself. He is better educated than most and his friends learn from him and follow him as if he was the Lord. Most importantly, he sticks to the idea of hope even after having a couple horrible years at the beginning of his sentence.

Dufresne is a great character and role model for his friends, but the story's focus is on Red's reaction to Andy's actions and influence on the group. He becomes so close to Andy that he confesses his guilt to Andy in privacy as if Andy was a priest. This is a surprise to Andy since the inmates have a joke that "everybody in Shawshank is innocent.".

These two stars are incredible in the film, though Freeman expresses a little more emotion than Robbins does. Robbins is essentially there to be a guide for his character's friends while Freeman is a voice of reason through learning from his experience in prison. He plays a character who is a little bit older than the rest (besides a character named Brooks) and who understands and fears the notion of becoming institutionalized.

This story of friendship and hope is inspirational in countless ways. At several times it seems to implicate that characters will give up but at the last second they make a hard turn and decide to move on and persevere. This is a drama, so not everything which unfolds is happy, but the dreariness within the film makes the case for the power of hope that much stronger.

There are so many memorable things about The Shawshank Redemption. It has phenomenal leading performances, brilliant music by Thomas Newman, its use of Mozart in relation to the setting of a prison is powerful, the interaction of the characters make for some memorable comedic bits to help us make it through the drama, and the list goes on and on. And even without these factors, the movie is superb at getting such an inspiring message across, and the ending maybe have you weeping with joy.

Even though this is not the greatest movie ever made, this is the one film everybody must watch in their lifetime. Powerful stuff.

4.0/4.0.