Triumph of the human spirit

Rating: 10/10 (23 October 2015)

The Shawshank Redemption is, simply put, a perfect movie. It speaks to the quality of Stephen King's writing that it was adapted into what is, in my opinion, a beautiful movie.
From the start of the movie all the way to the end, the main characters have our full sympathy as they bond in prison. There is also lingering curiosity- is Andy actually guilty?
Andy, above all, is a likable character. We're cheering him on the whole way. This is not to understate Morgan Freeman's breakout performance as Red, the narrator. His voice gives the film power, of which it had plenty already.
And more than anything else, it is a movie about the triumph of the human spirit, even when the deck is stacked against and the odds are a million to one. The challenges faced by the main characters only make the ending of the film all the more meaningful.
The ending is, of course, beautiful. I won't go into too much detail in the name of avoiding spoilers, but I will way that if you haven't seen this movie, you absolutely should.