I would bet you a million bucks that someday in your lifetime you will come across people who will tell you that their favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption. The name itself is heavy, isn’t it? And even heavier than its name is the rating that this movie has on imdb. For those who aren’t aware an Imdb also known as Internet movie data base is a great tool a movie lover can use in deciding to either watch a movie or not? All the registered member of imdb can cast their votes/ratings for any movie. IMDb takes all the individual votes cast by the registered users and uses them to calculate a single rating, and Shawshank redemption tops the list.
In this blog, I will let you guys know my honest opinion about this Iconic movie. Is it worth the hype? What is it about and why is it the number one movie on imdb for last 25 years?
Novelist Stephen King came up with 4 Novella publication called Different Season under which were the four novels published, The Body, Apt pupil, The Breathing Method and The Shawshank Redemption. Three of the four stories made it to the silver screen. The body was developed into the beloved 1980’s film Stand By Me, Apt Pupil was produced as a film in 1998, and Shawshank redemption was released in 1994 with the storyline being men escaping from prison by breaking through walls.
The movie begins with Andy Dufresne played by Tim Robbins all alone at the night of crime that happened when he got framed and prisoned where he is treated like a slave and his desire to break out from that prison and seek freedom. You will also later find that the character Red played by Morgan Freeman is in the similar situation and eventually manages to break out from the prison, and form a true friendship with Andy. Even though the scenes begins with darkness around these two main character Andy and Red, the ending is at the beach where you can see Andy and Red meeting up, and its very bright and vibrant.
The storyline is very emotional, inspiring and exhilarating. The audience will definitely be hooked through out the entire movie, but the real question is it supposed to be a number one movie? The answer to this question is maybe, and honestly it depends on the viewer. In my personal opinion though, I think this movie is hyped a lot and I don’t really think of it as number one movie. The movies like Escape from Alcatraz has the same storyline. And not just Escape from Alcatraz, there are also other stories of prisoners breaking out of prison like, the count of Monte Cristo, The Great Escape, and Papillion, among just a few. All these films are not exactly the same stories, but they can be seen as quite similar, if nothing else. And there’s one key point that is almost too similar to have been a coincidence. Anyway that’s my opinion, let me know yours and if you think this movie deserves to be at number one.
