Truly a modern masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2005)

The Shawshank Redemption is about Andy Dufresne who was sent to Shawshank Prison for the double homicide of his cheating wife and her secret lover. But instead of feeling sorry for himself he lived the best he could and bettered the lives of fellow inmates through shear determination. In the process, he made many friends (Ellis 'Red' Redding being most notable of all) and even gained the respect of prison guards. Despite of serving back to back life sentences, Andy never gave up his ultimate dream of one day living by the ocean. That dream was further jeopardized because of what he knew, and there was someone who will go to great lengths to keep him locked up forever. Will Andy finally crack and lose hope, or will his perseverance prevail?
The Shawshank Redemption is the best movie that I've ever seen. I even like it better than any of the Godfather movies (which have a completely different theme up to the last episode). Perhaps I like this movie so much because it suits my taste. But I think most viewers of all kinds will appreciate Shawshank for the superb acting of the main characters, the insightful dialogs throughout, the powerful message it conveys, and the realness of the lives of convicts both inside the prison and outside once they're paroled.
It's a shame that Shawshank didn't win many awards since '94 was a tremendous year with the release of other great films like Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump. But the acting and directing of this film was still outstanding. I can't ever imagine serving a life sentence, and prison life was much different in the mid 1900's from today. Still I was able to relate to what the main characters were feeling, and I was moved by their words and actions numerous times (especially those of Brooks).
The underlying theme of Shawshank was simple; it celebrated hope and perseverance just like Lord of the Rings. Hope and perseverance are indeed powerful elements in arts, and both films have done a marvelous job portraying these two aspects. However, Shawshank seemed more real because frankly it was set in our world and not a fantasy one. This is no knock against LOTR, but I find myself more involved in this film because I could relate to it more and it made a deeper impact on me.
******POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW******
Of course no film is perfect. There are minor details here and there than didn't make sense to me. For example, how could the wall fall apart so easily? How could Andy cut/break such a big hole through that steel pipe with a rock? How can Shawshank Prison ignore the smuggling of things (they definitely knew since there were posters on the prison walls and men were smoking smuggled cigarettes)? But these are minor things, and don't jeopardize the integrity of Shawshank.
I don't want to over-analyze Shawshank and give it away, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who's in the mood for a serious film. My final rating: 10/10.