Richly human, uplifting

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2012)

Deservedly ranked at the top of IMDb's all-time best 250 films ever.
The casting is superb: Morgan Freeman is "Red," a wise observer of people and an entrepreneur inmate who's made "connections" so he can get contraband to other inmates for a price; he's under a life sentence for murder. Tim Robbins is "Andy," a smart banker and accounting whiz who was sentenced to 2 life terms for killing his wife and her lover (which he--like most other inmates, say they're not guilty of). And Bob Gunton is "Warden Norton" who, when we first meet him, is touting the virtues of Bible reading and strict discipline. While, fortunately, I've had no first hand experience, "Shawshank" certainly gives the feel of authenticity of prison life and its society.
A long movie, most of it takes place inside a semi-corrupt state penitentiary in the late 1940s. "Red," in talking his thoughts out loud to himself, becomes our narrator for many developments. As the story unfolds, increasingly we come to see Andy as a person with strong personal values which he upholds in the most difficult situations. And in Andy's work for Warden Norton, we also increasingly find the warden as morally his opposite: selfish and fundamentally lacking decent moral character--all show and appearance and with no integrity, substance.
In Roger Ebert's first review (of his two) of this movie, he said: "....the film is an allegory about holding onto a sense of personal worth, despite everything....the word redemption is in the title for a reason...." Most viewers will agree.