Best movie ever?

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2009)

Just having registered with IMDb, I thought a good movie to start my reviewing with would be the one which users have rated the best of the best. This is one of my favorite films & over the years I have watched it or portions of it whenever it happening to be playing on TV, probably mustering up a good 20-30 viewings to the point that I thought I could nearly recite the films dialogue word for word. That anyone could rate any film 10 out of 10 I figure is more a function of the mind of the viewer, and its penchant for exaggeration after watching a film which happens to induce some powerful emotions in him, rather than any inherent perfection in the piece. Whatever the truth may be I offer here some reasons why this particular film, although moving and well made in it's own right, cannot be the best film made by the hands of man.
#6: It seemed to me that the evidence for convicting Andy at the beginning was badly inadequate. There was no murder weapon found & no prints of his found inside the building the murders took place. His story was consistent, and though he had motive for getting wasted and driving around, its a big step to murder, and what guilty man freely admits he had a gun and planned on using it to scare the adulterers, when on trial for his life? An upright, honest man with faith and trust in the judicial system, thats who. Small wonder he was so shocked to here the judge give his sentence. And who was Andy's lawyer, Lionel Hutz?, did they not dust the murder scene for prints to give an idea of a possible involvement from another party etc?
#5: The night he decides to escape just happens to be a stormy one with loud peals of thunder perfectly disguising his rocking the sewage line? c'mon!
#4: The guy has been in the same cell for 19 years. All the time an enormous poster has been draped over the subway tunnel like hole to freedom he has been digging away at each night. No guard in that span felt he might have a curious peek-a-boo under the poster during the cell checks?
#3: I was a little incredulous at the good faith the warden seemed to show Andy after he had completed his 2nd warden ordered ordeal in the hole. "Its good to have you back Andy, place has'nt been the same without you" Did the warden remember putting Andy in the hole in the 1st place, for pleading and proving his innocence to him, remember having the man shot who could have restored Andy's life, I thought a man smart enough to contrive all of the fraudulent operations that were making the warden rich would at least merit a small deal of suspicion from the warden. "what else might this man be capable of?"
#2: Andy's job on the outside was as a banker not a priest, the movie continues to show how clever he is and flexible at making the most of his limited resources in the joint, but when and how did he find time to memorize that enormous book that is the bible? passage for passage, line for line? his mastery of this difficult book is shown in giving the exact chapter and line reference after the warden quotes him a segment of the book. Perhaps that is why his wife wanted to leave him, after work he was up all night till 4am memorizing segments of the bible, but more likely not.
#1: Finally and I thought most implausibly, the new guy Andy taught to read and write just happened to have the information on the "real killer" For this to happen I thought the following chance happenings would have to conspire: 1: he happens to share a cell with the killer at some other prison 2: the killer chooses to tell him that he killed a couple & a banker got the blame for it 3: he finds himself in another prison where Andy resides 4: of the many convicts, he happens to form a friendship with red and Andy and their small crew 5: red happens to spill the beans about Andy's crime to him I thought all this was a little unlikely
In summary, great movie, great dialogue, excellent performances, and great vindication of the power of hope, the rewards of perseverance and the importance of sticking to ones core values regardless of external circumstances, not the best of the best, but what is? 7 out of 10