Meticulously powerful film

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2014)

The Shawshank Redemption is something of an oddity. Based on a Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, it has dominated IMDb's Top 250 list for years now and has often been regarded as one of the best films ever made. Almost every adult Westerner has seen the movie at some point during their lives, yet not all that many people talk about this film, at least in my experience. It's not often recommended to others like The Godfathers, it's not quoted as often as The Dark Knight or Fight Club, it's not regarded as inherently cool as Pulp Fiction. So what makes it so great then? In my opinion the answer lies in its quality as a whole. It's not a flashy film. The pacing is slow as time itself - fitting for a prison film, admittedly - the conversations are often quiet and thoughtful, the prison setting never changes, but rather builds up in intensity and while there are emotions and deep themes displayed, they're not over the top or hammered in. Rather they're subtle, real if you will.
It's not a film that you will talk about a lot, but it's a movie that will stick with you. It's not a film that will leave you puzzled for days as you try to work through it's meanings, it's not a hard movie to understand, but you'll find yourself returning to it from time to time. And there are a lot of things to return to. The quiet dignity of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), the friendship between him and Red (Morgan Freeman), the other inmates, the brutality of the warden and the guards, that brilliant moment in the rain, the ending, the callbacks, the overarching and complex plot.
The Shawshank Redemption is the jack of all trades of films. Not a single element in it is the absolute best within cinema, but they're all way above average. Everything from the slightest camera angle to the main actors is up to par and beyond. Personally it's not my favourite movie of all time, I admit as much, but it's a masterpiece in its own right. I have nothing against it being the number one.