One of the best movies ever made.

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2002)

WARNING, SPOILER AHEAD! DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM.
This film is one of the most hotly contested films ever made. Some, like myself, love it and it takes pride of place in their video, DVD collections. Others detest it and I think the reason for this is that they have completely missed the one point Mr Darabont was trying to make.
The prison in the film is a representation of life itself, Andy didn't choose to be there he was put there by circumstances beyond his control. This is supposed to mean that in life sometimes thing happen to us, partners leave, jobs are lost etc. that are beyond our control and we simply have to deal with them. Andy makes the best life he can for himself in the situation he is in and makes a friend in Red. He then, through his ability to maintain a level of hope that things will get better, inspires those around him by teaching Red the value of hope and teaching the ill fated Tommy to read etc. In the end he escapes from prison and puts all that is wrong within it right.
You can tell Darabont, like many of us, has had times where life seemed pointless and everything was against him. What he tried, and succeeded, to say is no matter how bad things get if you believe that things will get better they will.
I recently read that Tim Robbins frequently gets members of the public coming up to him in the street and telling him how important the film was to them. How it helped them get through a time in their life they where truly miserable and, as his character said in the film, gave them hope.