The placement isn't an exaggeration

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2012)

As of March 2012, Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption is sitting pretty on the "IMDB Top 250" list with 731,886 ratings averaging at about 9.2/10. That's astounding. On Rotten Tomatoes, a site much more critical where it is a rarity that new movies possess a "fresh" rating, the film has merited a 90%. Another commendable achievement. I bring these two facts up because I'm just amazed at how high the film is ranked. Here's a film that holds the "IMDB Top 250" list by a long shot, yet doesn't immediately come to people's mind when thinking "the best movie of all time." Of course, being on the "IMDB Top 250" doesn't qualify as an official listing. Being featured on AFI's list is more respectable, but still, it is subjective. Just a bit more broader and stronger, since a group of high intellectuals choose the films. If one looks further down the "Top 250" list, you'll see a number of questionable entries such as The Dark Knight, Inception, and Toy Story 3. Their presence doesn't necessarily mean they're the best - just the highest rated by people.
But I have no quibbles about Shawshank's placing on the list; it is a wonderful, wholesome parable about redemption and reassurance of one's self worth while locked inside a penitentiary. We are met with characters who are trying to escape the confines of a monotonous lifestyle in prison, bot mentally and physically, and find a rare amount of comfort when with each other. The film is adapted from Stephen King's short story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - a novella that isn't so much physical suspense and horror as it is psychological horror; a different route for King, an author who has focused so much on the supernatural and the victimized outcasts in his long career.
We are placed in Shawshank State Penitentiary, located in Maine in 1947, where Andy Dufresne (Robbins) is convicted of murdering his cheating wife and her lover and is given two life sentences. Andy assures he is innocent, but circumstances prove differently. He meets Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Freeman), a man too serving life, who acts as a con man who can get you anything you want as long as you give him his asking price plus 20%. At first, Red doesn't think too much of Andy, betting ten cigarettes with his buddies that he'll cry the first night in prison.
Andy doesn't cry. He seems rather content, despite the treatment and hell he has been through. As time passes, by time I mean years and eventually decades, Andy's relationship with Red grows. They become understanding of each others positions, and Red takes a rare liking to the man. So do many other prisoners. At first, Andy is a victim of mistreatment and abuse from his villainous and heartless prisoners, but he eventually keeps his head held high, and works out deals with Warden Samuel Norton, who is played by Bob Gutton in a scarcely recognized performance that is equal parts frightening and breathtaking, to do odd-jobs around the prison to earn money, but more importantly, respect.
Not only do the prisoners become smitten with him, but the guards, policemen, and suits alike. They admire his persistency. There comes a time where Andy desperately wants more funding for Shawshank, not just for bars, guards, and walls, but for books and to assimilate growth for the feeble and decrepit library currently in the prison. The guard tells him that he can write as many letters as he wants but the state government won't pay any mind. So, Andy patiently writes one letter every week to try and convince them why extra funding is vital.
Here's where the spoiler comes in. The film's main morals are optimism, self worth, and hope. The film's tagline perfectly spells out its identity; "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free." There is a character in the film named Brooks (Whitmore), who is the prison trustee. Upon being released from the penitentiary, Brooks commits suicide by hanging himself. The reason was because he never had any sort of dreams or plans. Never any vision of hope or compassion for anyone. He was just a human being living in fear. Andy succeeds because he has learned to carry optimism on his shoulders. He eventually teaches Red the same lesson.
The spoiler's over. Moving on, the film illustrates the passing time, which I mentioned was decades, beautifully and naturally. The film will seem long to some, but it shows how slowly the prison life plods along. How mundane and redundant it must get to get up, confined to small rooms, and work for very low wages every day. And you thought your corporation job was miserably insufferable.
But where Shawshank really excels is in its humanism. It evokes prisoners as people, with morals and livelihood. Not as monsters. It is true, many, many people in prison deserve to be there, but we never look past the caricature of a psychopath or a deviant when we think about what kinds of people are really in there. They're not all bad people. People who question me on that should contemplate long and hard on this question; is Red a bad person? Or even a monster? The Shawshank Redemption is a marvelous journey through parts rarely explored. It is immersing in not only its characters and story, but in its touching, light cinematography which projects a wide range of dispositions throughout the entire excursion. Rarely does a film rub us this way, and rarely does one seem to rub everyone the same way. All the more reason, its placement on the "Top 250" really isn't an exaggeration.
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and Bob Gutton. Directed by: Frank Darabont.