The Shawshank Redemption takes a prison drama and twists it into a fascinating existential treatise.

Rating: 9/10 (8 December 2009)

The Shawshank Redemption is a simple story elegantly, cleverly told, not to mention expertly acted. The story is about a banker (Tim Robbins), wrongly convicted of killing his wife and her lover, who finds the strength to deal with the brutality of prison, thanks to a murderer serving a life term.
The film is a tense drama of injustice and male dignity, brilliantly adapted from Stephen King's story, with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman at their peak. A satisfying, audience-pleasing film. It has enjoyed a curious after-life. On its release in 1994, The Shawshank Redemption had mixed reviews and grossed just $28 million in the US; it did not make the list of Top 50 films at the box-office for that year. Yet in 2001, Channel 4 TV viewers voted it their third favourite film of all time, behind only the Star Wars and Godfather films. Readers of Time Out and Empire magazines also named it among their very favourites.