DAN WAS HERE

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 1999)

I would be hard pressed to name my favourite film of all time.I'd find it difficult to name my top five films of all time. But any discussion on the topic(at least one conducted by people with an ounce of sense)would surely include this film. Two-and-a-half hours of intelligent moviemaking pass in a instant,and not once does it let you lose interest,be it because your'e laughing at a bunch of prisoners sitting drinking beer paid for by a hard-ass warden,or crying at Andy Dufresne getting raped by a big bull queer. The film is at times harsh and unforgiving,(the nameless inmate getting beaten to death comes at you virtualy straight away)but the over riding feeling is that of hope."Hope is a good thing,maybe the best of things".That sentence will appear on every trailer,poster and teaser that you'll ever see for Shawshank,because its the whole damn point.Hope is what makes us free,what drives us to carry on.I dont want to get too philosophical,but "The Shawshank Redemption"is poetry on celluloid,a more majestic piece of moviemaking doesnt exist outside of David Lean. The fact that Tim Robbins And Morgan Freeman were denied Oscars is scandalous,as I doubt that Robbins will ever give a performance as good as this one again(except for Cadillac Man,hes never been better)and Freeman proves once again that age leads to experience,and damn fine acting. "The Shawshank Redemption" finally gives me the oppurtunity to use the word "poignant"in a review,so I'll do so. Poignant.Indeed.