Fear Can Hold You Prisoner. Hope Can Set You Free.
In 1994 the tale of Andy Dufresne, a man wrongly accused of the murder of his adulteress wife and her lover, that gets sent to prison for two life sentences in the notoriously harsh Shawshank Prison, was created. Released in the UK on February 17th 1995, the film follows Dufresne for more then twenty years during his incarceration; from the day of his sentencing to the day of his sudden and mysterious escape from Shawshank.
According to votes cast on IMDB, The Shawshank Redemption is the best movie of all time, with a current score of 9.2 out of 10 and 448,418 registered votes. The next film on the list, rated a 9.1, is 'The Godfather Part 1' a narrow 2nd place, behind by only 80,953 votes.
With an all-star cast; including Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Bob Gunton, and receiving 7 Oscar nominations, another 13 nominations and 11 overall award wins at various awards ceremonies, it's no wonder that The Shawshank Redemption has survived the test of time over the 15 years since it's production in 1994. The Shawshank Redemption has even managed to make it's mark on a global scale, particularly claiming a plethora of awards in Japan, including the 'Best Foreign Film' at the Awards of the Japanese Academy in 1996 and 'Best Foreign Language Film' at both the Hochi Film Awards (1995) and the Kinema Junpo Awards (1996).
The Shawshank Redemption holds the ability to move a grown person to tears, make you laugh out loud with the characters and skip a heart beat in apprehension. The ideology of friendship, ambition and hope is perfectly encompassed in this 142 minute film. The film is simple, yet portrays an everlasting message; hope is what gives us life, hope keeps human kind going, hope can set you free. There was also no need for director, Frank Darabont, to use any typical Hollywood special effects to make this a film you can't help but love, it relishes in the natural effects of life and emotion to keep the story alive.
Don't let the fact that The Shawshank Redemption has a run time of over two hours deter you from watching it. I wholeheartedly agree that it is one of the best films of all time. It truly is a film, fantastic.
