The key to it's greatness is the deeper meanings

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 1999)

Why do I think this movie so good? Because I find myself thinking about it year after year, and I get more out of it each of the three times I've seen it. It works on several different levels. First, the surface level, the plot and it's surprising twists the first time I saw it. On a second level, are the themes of hope for Red and Andy, of how Red finally finds hope, of how Andy secretly creates his own hope and escapes.
On a deeper level, the movie is an allegoric tale for all human lives. We are all imprisoned for crimes we didn't commit, namely the prison of life with it's ultimate death sentence for all of us. We all would love to be redeemed from death, whether we are religious or spiritual, or not. > I can think of no other movie that satisfies on these different levels. I see other comments here at IMDb about how other movies have better cinematography, better directing, better acting, or comparing it to Cool Hand Luke or other prison movies. Those comments miss the mark completely because they are about the task of film making or superficial comparisons of plot devices.
To me, great movies, like great literature, touch people's lives, change our view of the world, make us think about our place in the world. Does the Godfather hit that mark? Star Wars? Cuckoo's Nest? No Way! Even Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan, as wonderful as those movies are, don't hit the level of universal truth that Shawshank does, and does again, and again and again.