Hope overcomes everything

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 2014)

This subtitle might sound a little cheesy, but in fact the movie presents us with a story of having to cope with a harsh reality, and in the end, managing to move on from it. The Shawshank Redemption always gives to me the feeling that it is separated between two very different acts. Although this separation isn't balanced in the runtime, it is, in a way, the manner in which the film is constructed.
At the beginning, we are introduced to Andy Dufresne (Robbins), a man accused of murdering his wife and her lover. He is sent to Shawshank Prison for life, and there he meets Red (Freeman), the man who can get you anything you want. Over the years, Andy will become good friends with Red, be brutally abused by a group of aggressive homosexuals, and participate in a series of scams orchestrated by the warden. All the time Andy spends in incarceration seems like a living hell, thus setting up the dark, absorbing environment of most of the movie's runtime. By the time we get to the last part of the film, we see a pleasant payoff that presents itself in a different tone, one that while sometimes present in the movie's gritty prison setting, lashes out fully in the last few scenes.
Directed masterfully by Frank Darabont, and with career defining performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, Shawshank lives on as a cinematic landmark. It's a movie that captures the essence of good storytelling and lives up to its legacy through that, while also being a competently made film, with a diverse soundtrack and a beautifully planned production design.
For me, The Shawshank Redemption represents assuming responsibility and coming to terms with a complicated situation, while also having the strenght to triumph over adversity. As Andy says, hope is what keeps a man mentally stable and in my estimation the most powerful feeling in a movie like this.
Rating 10/10