In the lead roles, both Robbins and Freeman are outstanding

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2017)

Covering a span of time from 1946 to 1967, Shawshank focuses on the plight of a Maine banker, Andy Dufresne (Robbins), sentenced to two life terms for the murder of his wife and lover. Laconic and a bit chilly, Andy is somewhat of an outcast among the uneducated, macho thugs who make up the main brunt of the prison population.
Admittedly, he's not an easy guy to get to know and only comes to enjoy a prison friendship when he makes a deal with the prison black-market supplier, Red (Freeman), to get him a tiny hammer for his rock collection. Red is also an enigma to most of the inmates. He keeps his nose clean and his hopes up even though the parole board routinely denies him pardon, obviously a racial antagonism.
While the story roils with some rousing prison-type action and is coarsened by an overpowering sense of frustration, The Shawshank Redemption is really about the unlikely friendship between Andy and Red: Each nurtures the other and serves as a touchstone for keeping their sanity intact.