No good thing ever dies...

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2002)

I never got the chance to see this when it was in the theaters. I bought this DVD when I saw it on sale at a music store, keeping in mind its place in the imdb top 250. Now that I have the DVD, I've seen it a number of times, each time not being my last.
As to whether this movie "should have" won the Oscar for best picture, my opinion is not firm on that. In many ways I really do wish TSR had won, but I do love both movies (Forrest Gump, and this one) each in their own right. They are two entirely different movies, each well done, and moving for their own reasons.
In "The Shawshank Redemption", Tim Robbins gives a breathtaking performance as Andy Dufresne, a man who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading to his wrongful conviction of the death of his wife and her lover. He gets two life sentences, back to back, to be served at the Shawshank prison.
It is there that he meets Red (Morgan Freeman), an inmate who has been at Shawshank for much longer and has establish status as "a man who can get things". Through his friendship with Red, and his experience as a banker, he gains the respect of the corrupt prison guards, and the other inmates, and manages to be rid of the abuse he was enduring at the hands of two "sisters". He also works very hard to build the best prison library in the country, and help illiterate men get their high school diploma.
My favorite scene is the one where everyone stopped what they were doing and stood transfixed as they listened to the beautiful sounds of a Mozart opera. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes. I also like the "Beer on the Roof" scene, but the Mozart segment is the one that will always be among my favorites.