10/10

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 1999)

The Shawshank Redemption is a movie that many people can relate to, especially if you had to overcome an unexpected experience that left you institutionalized and scarred. People are not institutionalized only in prisons and hospitals, but in schools, colleges, broken families, society, and other organizations. Trying to liberate ourselves from our conservative past or beliefs is not an easy process.
The Shawshank Redemption is one movie that can help start that process. It's a movie that can be watched repeatedly and after each time, even the most savvy critic may be enlightened by the depth and development of the characters, the smooth yet scintillating story line, the reoccuring symbolic themes, the uninhibited realism, the scenes and music ranging from the cold gothic prison architecture to the oak tree from a Robert Frost poem, and many uninvited personal insights we hold dearly and secretly to ourselves. Watching the movie over and over again is similar to a religious baptism where your past sins and crimes are washed away by the never-ending hope that you'll be free to achieve your highest dreams. I'm not going to reiterate the plot, dialogue, and other highlights of the film. The movie speaks for itself.
The plethora of movies in this time makes it difficult to dig and find the very few movies that exuberate the same effect as the Shawshank Redemption. The purpose of these reviews (also under Leonardo (24601-6) and Leonardo) is to express my tastes and to invite anyone with similar opinions to recommend movies on the same caliber.
It is my all-time personal favorite movie--the only one I would give a 10/10.