Greatest film of all time?

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 1999)

Perhaps the greatest challenge of the AMPAS is determining what defines a "Best Picture." I have heard it defined from some forgotten source directly tied to the AMPAS that a Best Picture is one that holds itself superb in the following three categories: Direction, Writing, and Acting, not necessarily in that order. A good example would be Citizen Kane, arguably the most worthy winner of these three categories (Kane lost to How Green and never picked up the Best Picture statue). However, it is certain that the greatest film of all time would need to excel especially in one field: Originality. How many people would even go bother to see another interpertation of Titanic? However, if this particular film had come out before the Cameron version, it would certainly be hailed with critical acclaim. Shawshank is one that meets the AMPAS standards of excellence, and most certainly would have taken the Best Picture title, if not for Forrest Gump, a film which many members perhaps found it impossible to not vote for due to the momentum it had gained. If Shawshank had been nominated almost any other year of this decade, the statue would have been a lock. However, we must look at Shawshank not as the year's Best Picture, but as a film in the long timeline of movie history, a film which tells an original story with original acting style and original directing. Can we look at Shawshank and with all sincerity call it the greatest film ever? Before deciding, a prerequisite should be to see at least 50 of the best films of this century. In this way, Shawshank loses the advantage of being fresh in our memory, losing the emotional effect, and must bow to the annals of time as do all the other superb films of history. Shawshank is not the Best Picture of all time nor the greatest film of all time. This is a fact we must face and learn to live with, no matter how much the storyline touched us all.