Additional information
When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics
complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story.
Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to
this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a
life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally
satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont
(adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its
necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays
a banker named Andy who's sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge,
but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman),
we realize there's reason to believe the banker's crime was justifiable. We
also realize that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience
and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first
struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank
Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the
conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of
faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards
including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film that
signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker--a film that many movie
lovers count among their all-time favorites
