The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

1994 R 142 Minutes

Drama | Crime

Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an am...

Overall Rating

7 / 10
Verdict: Good

User Review

  • In celebration of the 90th Academy Awards, I would be logging a series of Oscar-winning and nominated films in my diary. And the first film would be 1994's The Shawshank Redemption.

    Upon first viewing, I didn't know what to expect; I mean I haven't read the Stephen King novella, although I've heard great things about it. So I tuned in to HBO on a Sunday afternoon to spend some quality time with a film that remains to be the highest-rated movie in IMDb.

    A Sunday afternoon is no ordinary pastime. They need to be quiet, interesting and memorable. But perhaps ultimately, they need to give a realistic look in life. The Shawshank Redemption is the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced for a life imprisonment in a crime he never committed. In prison, he meets Red (Morgan Freeman) and forms a friendship that would change his life forever.

    Although The Shawshank Redemption has some problems, I connected with it in ways that I didn't expect. It teaches us the lesson of finding hope and facing fears in the darkest times of our lives. It's a story about aspirations, acceptance, and most of all, gratitude.

    It's runtime is over two hours, but it never feels long. That's because it's no ordinary film - it's a slice of life - a type of life I have never seen depicted before in any movies.