Excellent but ultimately shamelessly aims to please the audience

Rating: 9/10 (31 March 2010)

Don't get me wrong,I loved this movie. It's a beautiful and powerful fictional story, beautifully and powerfully told. Incredible job by everyone involved,and this is a very rich movie,it goes everywhere and never misses,and the control and confidence with which it is driven forward by Darabont reminded me of Coppola. It also reminded me somewhat of The Hill,Pappilon,Brubaker which are one of my favorite films about incarceration.Which brings me to my only discontent about Shawshank Redemption: the fact that Andy Dufresne succeeds in solving everything so completely. Revenge,freedom,happiness,reward for his patience and determination, all with one precise blow. And fate somehow cooperates.Well,that's too much for me.The happy ending was nice,but it was a bit too happy.It really goes straight for that pure part of our being that would want everything to be spectacular and complete, which gives us great emotions but ultimately "insults" our common sense.Andy Dufresne managed to beat the system. It took 18 years but he did it. Beautiful but I don't buy that. Makes for a great movie but doesn't leave much room to meditate.However I wouldn't even think of rating this one less than 9 and really deserves top marks. However,looking around me and thinking about my fate and the fate of others and the fate of the world, I see no Andy Dufresne's. I see the warden, I see Red and I see almost all characters but not Andy.He's like Tristan or Heracles to me,and I don't believe in those hero myths.So,almost perfect movie,but I'll make and take a point by rating it 9.