A Very Important Film

Rating: 10/10 (21 September 2005)

I hope you watch this film, and you are found better for it.
This movie is all about acting in the best interest of yourself and others, and the evil that checks our good motive. Morgan Freeman plays the role of a lifetime, and that's saying a lot because Morgan has had quite a few outstanding performances. I do think this was his best. The reason I think that are the extremes that Freeman's character goes through from utter despair ("somestimes all I can think about is ...") to highest hope.
The movie does so many things well, but the two most important for me were Freeman's Narration as a whole ("tall drink of water") and the use of the letter device through narration. Freeman narrating the letter which read,"I hope this letter finds you well," is one of the most pleasant lines I think I have even heard in any movie. It had to make Freeman's character feel better about "his friend" (though he may not have needed that), but it is as if Andy Dufresne knew that Red would be struggling, and he needed the feeling of calmness to get him through this period. The treasure hunt device and the physical scene of that device is movie making at it's finest. The shot up the hill to the tree (great focal point), the stone wall, it was all perfect.
I would that we all would find our friend on the beach of self content for fond embrace.