True Movie Power

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 1999)

My story is like a lot of yours. My brother and father wanted to rent this movie at the video store, and that alone made me wary, plus in my teenage mind I was thinking "What? I've never even heard of this movie!" But after watching it I went to the store the very day it was released for home video and bought it.
Everytime I see this movie, it makes everything inside of me ache. I mean truly ache. From the very first scene I was hooked, and in each line of dialogue I experienced everything from tension, laughter, shock. It has a quiet aura about it, a heavy mood that is not necessarily somber, but instead incredibly profound.
I used the opera scene in my media class to demonstrate the core ideas of this movie and the entire class was transfixed. I think my favorite scene is Red and Andy talking after Andy's extensive time in "the hole". What they discussed: hope, freedom, his wife; it makes me want to cry.
Please don't let anything stop you from seeing this movie. It is for a teenage girl as much as it is for anyone. If it doesn't affect you, I'm not sure what will...