The reviews of most films nowadays are filled with meaningless hyperbole: "The greatest ever…", "awesome", "unbelievable". In the case of The Shawshank Redemption, it is only now, in the fullness of time, that the greatness of this film is finally coming into public consciousness as it takes its rightful place as one of the greatest films of all time.

Based on the screen adaptation of Stephen King's story Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.the theatrical release (1994) starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, is a powerful portrayal of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of utterly impossible odds.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards® including Best Picture--two Golden Globe nominations and one nomination for Screen Actors Guild Award in 1995. Nominated for best music, original score by Thomas Newman. Shawshank has found redemption in the court of public opinion.

According to an April 30, 1999 article by Stephen Schurr, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal, [t]he hugely popular site [Internet Movie Database], acquired by Amazon.com last year, is visited by more than three million separate visitors every month, according to Colin Needham, imdb's founder and managing editor.."Shawshank" has been among the top ten ever since its release in 1994, and has been No. 1 for nearly two years, save for a brief surge by "Star Wars" after its re-release and an occasional eclipse by "The Godfather."

The film's writer and director, Frank Darabont, has made superb use of double entendre--there are several scenes in the film where the audience is left pondering the obvious outcome when in fact, the director has something entirely different in mind. As such, the director has made use of his dramatic license and provided the audience with an artistic touch that borders on sheer brilliancy.

If there is one scene that captures the spirit, grandeur and majesty of the Shawshank Redemption, it is the scene were Andy Dufresne has fallen out of the sewer pipe and stumbles in the drainage ditch in the rain. Amid heavy lightning and thunder, removes his shirt, then undershirt and raises his hands and arms to the heavens. It is as if God himself has given sanction and ordained the event. The music itself crescendos to a majestic fever pitch and the audience is witnessing, if for only a very brief moment, a divine event wrought by the hand of God.

It is possible, that no single scene in the entire history of cinema so completely captures the spirit and essence of an entire film, as this one did.

One of the most compelling aspects of The Shawshank Redemption is, as the end-credits confidently assure us that the film is pure fiction and any similarity to any name or incident, or the character or biography of any person, is purely coincidental and unintentional. Yet one can confidently say, no person has ever walked away after seeing The Shawshank Redemption without wondering in the back of his or her mind, if this is a true story or at least based on small part on a true story. Is there some aspect of the film that is in fact true?

A 1993 congressional study by Representative Don Edwards, then Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, found that since 1973, 48 people were subsequently found innocent and re- leased from death row. Since 1993, an additional 45 people have been exonerated because of their innocence, bringing the total to 93 in the last 27 years.

Shawshank then, in one sense, is a resplendent allegory-a tool for looking at oneself and examining the truth.

The Shawshank Redemption is certainly one of the leading contenders, on a very short list, for the greatest movie of all time. A short list that includes The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Titanic (11 Oscars® out of 14 nominations-tied most nominations of all time). While somewhat overlooked in 1995, Shawshank is an utterly brilliant film, a crown jewel, which cannot and should not be missed.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering into its prisons - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, (1821-1881, novelist and scholar).

Review by
Steven Michael