I SAW, I SANK, I AM REDEEMED!

MOVIE: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
CAST: Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins
DIRECTOR: Frank Darabont






There has been extensive debate amongst IMDB regulars as to which is the best movie ever. Many suggest that the first two positions must be pre occupied by the first two parts of The Godfather whereas a large section believes that The Dark Knight is the best. Not so long ago a section started believing that The Shawshank Redemption is the best ever. They could justify it and they won. It is currently atop the prestigious IMDB top 250 list. And tell you what, it truly deserves to be there.

This is a small movie which apparently has nothing extravagant happening. A man Andy Dufresne (Robbins) is sentenced life imprisonment on charges of murdering his wife and her lover. His time in the prison forms the theme of the movie. On the other hand, Ellis Boyd(Freeman), better known as Red, has spent a long time in Shawshank prison and is a well known figure in there as h the convicts depend on him for smuggling in cigarretes, beer and other daily requirements.

The Shawshank Redemption starts off pretty nicely and as you go ahead watching it you cannot really figure out where the story is heading. But with brilliant performances, excellent screenplay and the best ever dialogues in any cinema and Darabont's careful direction, this movie keeps you pretty gripped.

As you keep approaching the end of this movie you slowly start realising whatever you felt was unnecessary or unimportant in the initial narration turns out to be marvellous machinery for the tale to entirely twist or rather jump to an unimaginable high. The beautifully crafted end portions makes The Shawshank Redemption possess one of the best ever climax in the history of cinema. Redemption means Salvation. The story mystically revolves around this word. BBC has got a list of 100 movies you should watch before you die. If I had made such a list, The Shawshank Redemption would be topping it. "Fear can hold you prisoner," reads on of the promotional taglines of this movie and it beautifully captures the essence of the movie. It would be incomplete if I do not mention the other part in that tagline. It says, "Hope can set you free!"