The Shawshank Redemption what a great movie it is! It is a must watch movie for every one irrespective of their age. Classic, great, master piece these words seem very weak to gauge the movie. To be honest, I am short of adjectives to judge the movie. It has literally become the benchmark of a great movie. It was nominated for 7 Oscars but surprisingly did not get even one!
It is an adaptation of a novel “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” written by famous writer Stephen King and then brought to the silver screen by Frank Darabont. The movie is all about a small, simple and plain four-letter word “Hope” and the storyline of the movie is “Going to prison for serving two life sentences of an innocent man for killing his wife and her secret lover, then his thrilling life in the prison and finally, after about 20 years his great escape from the prison.” The storyline might sound average and boring on paper, but if you start to watch the movie you will certainly feel that you are in the prison with them! In fact, it did not do a great business at the box office, may be because of its simple storyline, and another strong reason could be the release of another great movie “Forrest Gump” where legendary actor Tom Hanks acted flawlessly and won Oscar as best actor in a leading role but after the release of DVD everyone started to feel the essence of the movie and as a result now, The Shawshank Redemption has same 9.2 rating along with The Godfather but the maximum number of votes for “The Shawshank Redemption” enable it tops the table.
Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) plays the role of the convicted prisoner and Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (exquisitely performed by Morgan Freeman) who is also a prisoner but not innocent like Andy, plays a key role in the movie. Red was surprising paroled after 40 long years and then he met his friend recently escaped Andy in a Pacific Mexican Town. The movie is loaded with strong, optimistic dialogues and most of them are very difficult to forget like–“Some birds are not meant to be caged; their feathers are just too bright”; “There is something inside that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours.”; “Hope is a good thing and may be the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.”
It is a highly educative movie and certainly worth watching over and over. To be honest, you cannot afford to miss the movie. Finally, I want to say that The Shawshank Redemption is a movie that you must watch before you die!
