Transcends its source in leaps and bounds

Rating: 10/10 (21 March 2002)

I never expected to have a movie about prison be among my ten favorite movies of all time, but The Shawshank Redemption stands in that category. This, however, is no ordinary prison movie. It is a movie that cuts to the core of the human psyche and exposes the ideas of hope, strength, and survival all within the character of Andy Dufresne.
I recently finished reading the short story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Remption" on which this movie is based. While the story is a great one and Stephen King is an exceptionally talented writer, I believe that this film manages to take a small morsel of a story and stretch its meaning and characters out into a fully engrossing film that will reach the viewer on all levels. Tim Robbins does an excellent job as the complex Andy Dufresne and shows the range of emotions that Andy comes to feel during his sentence within his actions and expressions. While the character of Red is a white Irishman in the story, the movie chooses to make him black and cast Morgan Freeman. This was a wise choice and Freeman brings his immense talent to the character on screen, displaying Red's cunning nature and raw emotion. All of the other major characters are given more life in the movie than the book, and work well together to create the prison atmosphere of Shawshank. While reading the book, I kept expecting to read about one of my favorite scenes in the movie, where Andy locks the warden's office door and plays the uplifting opera music for all of the inmates. This is an excellent addition that made the movie even more effective. The twist ending where Andy gives the warden his "just desserts" in the movie is more satisfying than when it is omitted in the book.
So there are people out there who call this movie overrated. Maybe it is. It does tend to pull at your emotions in various ways throughout its runtime. And it manages to touch many different sensitive issues that people hold dear. But it has such a strong message and so many effective scenes that you can't help but enjoy it. This movie made me, a naive high school student upon my first viewing, take a deeper look at life, the impact of hope, and the effects of prison. Forrest Gump is an excellent movie, but I don't understand why the Academy chose to reward it instead of The Shawshank Redemption.
Call it overrated if you like, but it's still one of my favorites.
10/10