The Shawshank Redemption

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2019)

Imagine a moviegoing experience that will be a part of movie culture that became, at first, a movie with a low box office rate in the year 1994. Then, it starts to captivate all audiences worldwide as the highest grossing VHS ever sold at the time, thanks to the miracle of home video. It is surprising that a low-key prison melodrama has made movie history and is currently holding as the 72nd greatest movie ever made according to the American Film Institute. So, without further ado, here's my review of The Shawshank Redemption.
Based on the novella Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King, this riveting adaptation tells the story about a quiet banker named Andy Dufrense (Tim Robbins) unjustly convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and serves two life sentences to Shawshank Prison. While there, Andy meets one of the inmates named Red (in an Oscar-nominated performance by Morgan Freeman) and befriends him through the years while they both manage to be around each other until Andy comes with a solution to bribe the warden, tackle obstacles and other things that would leave him into one of the most satisfying finales in movie history.
The movie was introduced to me at a very young age when my third grade teacher issued movies to my mother and told her that this was a worthy watch. Noticing that the movie is rated R, I waited for the right time to see it and when I did, I was enthralled by the sense of masterwork and brilliance that writer-director Frank Darabont had put on the silver screen. What shocks me the most that this movie was a box office flop and it didn't receive much appreciation like it is now holding up at number one on IMDb's top 250 list of movies.
The characters on this film are unmistakably brilliant. From the warden (Bob Gunton), the captain of the guards (Clancy Brown) and the inmates that were Andy's friends and enemies. The character that stole the show, in my opinion, is Brooks (James Whitmore) because he was the oldest prisoner of the entire prison. Shame on what happened to him as the movie goes forward.
What I like about the movie, also, is Thomas Newman's score. It's haunting, triumphant and peaceful.
In conclusion, this is a masterpiece that should be watched by all movie fans that appreciate art of the entire world of prison life, even if some scenes are portrayed as clichÃ©s, but it is exquisitely accurate on it's depection of the point of view of our protagonist, hoping for an escape. I highly recommend this movie. Get busy living or get busy dying!
10/10