A masterpiece with an inspirational message

Rating: 10/10 (24 August 2013)

This is the best movie I've ever watched!! It told a moving story very effectively. Former banker Andy Dusfresne is wrongly convicted for a double murder and sent to Shawshank Prison. The first few years are a struggle but he eventually carves out for a place for himself and benefits the other inmates in the process, winning favours through helping the guards and warden with financial planning and expanding the prison's meagre library. He becomes solid friends with Red, a black man who entered 20 years before and is highly resourceful.
What resonates with the audience is Andy's clinging to hope. The saddest part was when the boy that Andy had been tutoring obtained a high school diploma, but shortly after, was shot dead under the warden's orders as he had knowledge that could prove Andy innocent. Following that, Red tells Andy that hope is a dangerous thing. Bur further events prove that hope is in fact a good thing (as Andy tells Red in a letter) - Andy escapes through a hole he dug in his cell wall (hidden behind a large poster of a hot woman) and escapes to Mexico using a false identity and cash that he'd procured while laundering money for the warden. Before leaving, he submits evidence incriminating the hypocritical warden. As the cross-stitching on the warden's office wall reads, judgment does indeed come! Red is released soon after and struggles to adapt to the outside the world. But for Andy's invitation to join him, Red would probably have gone down the path of Brooks, who committed suicide.
The Shawshank Redemption combined a message of hope with wonderful storytelling and attention to detail. It's truly a masterpiece.