Welcome to Shawshank

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2013)

Going to prison is never easy and almost an unimaginable experience for most people. It's even worse if you are sentenced for fifty years despite being innocent.
Shawshank Redemption is an incredible movie. Not only because of its fantastic narration and storytelling technique. Not only because of the emotional yet inspirational performances put on by each and every actor/actress. Not even the spectacular filming and perfect settings. No, what makes Shawshank Redemption a truly excellent film is the complete story and the very relatable tale that is the life of Andy Dufresne.
This movie focuses on the lives of minor characters, life in and out of prison, and how the system has changed so many men and women drastically. And it's these individual stories that make Andy's even more special. He was able to stay strong, to manage without friends or support in the worst times. He was a man no one would have looked at twice. No one special. Just another person like you and me. Yet, his story is one that we can all imagine ourselves in. Where bad circumstances meet inexplicable motives, and it's being capable of imagining ourselves in Andy's shoes that makes Shawshank Redemption such a beautiful movie.
This movie stands for a lot of things. Love, respect, peace and friendship among other things. More so than the rest, Shawshank Redemption is a story about hope. Having faith in the future, secretly knowing good will overcome bad.
No one knows what our future holds. But if we could all live like Andy, optimistic and ever so kind in the most dire of situations, holding up true justice, this world would be a better place.