The closest thing to poetic perfection Hollywood has ever produced

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 1998)

This touching and heart warming film is the most perfect celebration of the human spirit I have seen. Andy Dufresne, wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, finds the strength not only to change himself, but to bring hope to those around him in Shawshank Prison. This inspiring story is interwoven with a soundtrack which invokes every emotion, from haunting and chilling, to stirring and beautiful. When you go to see a movie and it touches you with its poetry, music, and its atmosphere, and leaves you with a sense of victorious satisfaction, it is a triumph. Field of Dreams was the first movie which invoked these emotions in me. Shawshank Redemption is even more powerful for its simplicity. It doesn't pretend to be clean, nor could it be called a family movie. It is brutal and violent at times, horrifying and sickening at others. However the title says it all. Redemption is what this story is all about. And it is not necessarily redemption for the actual crimes you might have committed, but it is redemption for the way you have lived your life. What emerges can only be called a maginificent piece of art. This is what movies were meant to be.