It is rare to find a film as inspiring and gripping as The Shawshank Redemption and for this reason it is deserving of praise. Featuring a man who is wrongly found guilty of committing a murder, the protagonist is sent to jail with a life sentence. During his stay behind bars he takes to the habit of helping others (most of the time) and through this he is able to get through an otherwise horrific life. This is not to say that his acts are always entirely Lily White, for during his spell in Prison he gets involved in various tax evasion scams and other dubious dealings. Two things remain consistent in his approach to prison, hope and dignity. In portraying these two virtues in a gripping way and novel way, the film makers have a difficult task.
Film makers, it would seem, find it easy to make movies that dwell on the dark side of people and win praise for so doing. Others, produce romantic comedy, which is great in its way, but often lacks impact and insight. For these reasons, it is rare to find a positive film which also provides insight and meaning, but Shawshank does manage to do this. I therefore recommend you watch it, and as you can buy the DVD for about £3 from Woolworth's it is also cheap entertainment. What more could one ask for?
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This film failed to win a single one of the seven academy awards for which it was nominated in 1994, in the shadow of 1995's big winner Forrest Gump. It is funny to observe how some years later The Shawshank Redemption has been considered one of the greatest films of all time by critics and entities such as Empire magazine or IMBD, Forrest Gump occupying a much more discrete position in the same lists. I wonder if for some reason the members of the academy thought Gump a more convenient model to follow for the Americans than Andy Dufresne? I am looking forward to seeing it.
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