The ONLLY Perfect Movie

Rating: 9/10 (2 July 2007)

The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), an educated banker sentenced to life for the murder of his wife and her lover. In prison, Andy inspires his fellow inmates with his courage and humanity and has a profound effect on Red (Morgan Freeman), an older prisoner, who has given up hope.
Unlike many films of the 90's, "The Shawshank Redemption" has "high concept" plot premise and is somewhat episodic compared with the tight, linear narratives of closer structured pictures. This sense of freedom in the storytelling allows the film to consistently throw up genuine surprises, as the viewer isn't constantly on guard for clues and plot points. In hindsight, we tend to forget how successfully director Frank Darabont leads us to expect a very different resolution.
"The Shawshank Redemption" does things well that you might not expect. It has lengthy voice-overs (that actually work well) and it has a sappy predictable ending, but yet these elements work because they are not placed in the over-used, meaningless context that movies today place them in. The voice overs are also consistently used in such a way that distinct worlds are created. There's a real world inside the prison and the surreal outside world.
These two distinct worlds are created help to place the viewer inside the halls of the prison, they are no longer watching a movie, but they are also feeling it.
This is a movie that will remain a favorite of the people for many decades to come. 10/10