Pure Artistic Genius **Spoiler**

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2010)

Words of praise can't do enough justice for this film. There's something about it where you could watch it over and over and over and know everything that's gonna happen and still be shocked, saddened, and amazed by it as if you saw it for the first time. It just screams perfection: perfect story, acting, themes that are greatly worked into it without being too obvious. Part of the reason this is one of my favorites, maybe even my overall favorite film, is that it touches on so many world-essential things that everyone can relate to: hope, faith, integrity, justice, and the will to live and survive to name a few. I was shocked when I learned that this didn't win any Oscars. Although I do love Forrest Gump (the big winner of '94 which beat Shawshank for pretty much everything it was nominated in) and think that Tom Hanks did a brilliant job as Forrest, I still feel that Shawshank was slightly better. Morgan Freeman delivers what might be the performance of his career. There's so much believability in that it's just amazing. Tim Robbins is probably the only man who could have played Andy so perfectly. His quiet demeanor evokes great wonder about him, much like how Roy Orbison is such a presence on-stage and he hardly even moves. But the thing to really marvel about Andy is his integrity and patience. Although his need to escape could have driven him insane, his hope and faith in justice and God kept him sane enough to patiently work out his escape for 19 years. That meeting between Red and Andy where they discuss hope has to be one of the greatest scenes in the whole movie, next to Andy's "resurrection" baptism in the rain and when he breaks the sewage pipe with the stone in sync with the lightning. This film is much like another favorite of mine "Citizen Kane" because when it first came out people didn't really understand it that well and didn't see the prophetic power in it the first time around. But nowadays we as viewers have realized the impact and power that Shawshank holds on everyone who sees it. Every time it rains now, I just have the urge to run outside, take my shirt off, and just feel the rain pour down on me. I've seen this film maybe 10 times by now, and I know that I'll never stop watching it until the day that I die.