1. The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank redemption was released in 1994 and is based on the novella by Steven King, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”. Shawshank was directed and written for the screen by Frank Darabont. Even though this film is the highest ranked film on the IMDb list, with a score of 9.3/10, on release the film only grossed $16m from the box office, despite its $25m budget. The film had a hard time at the box office because it faced intense competition from other popular 1990s films: Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump. Further, there was scepticism among audiences about the title of the film. I concur with this, because I initially thought Shawshank was a horror film, just because of the name and not knowing anything else about it. Another limit to the initial success of the film was the lack of female leads – because it was a prison film. The focus on male characters limits social progress, so cinema goers of the time must have been in search of more progressive art. Despite the lack of success at the box office, Shawshank had been nominated for several awards and after the hype of Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction died down, was re-released and made $58.3m.

This film was a fantastic way to kick off this top rated 250 film journey I’m on. It was compelling, with themes of: hope, irony, perseverance and most obviously… Redemption. This quickly became one of my favourite films of all time. I’m a sucker for a good quote and Shawshank is full of insightful musings. Some inspiring: “get busy living or get busy dying” and others had more depth, acknowledging the plight of prisoners: “some birds aren’t meant to be caged”. The latter quote resonated with me because it made me wonder if King or Darabont had also read ‘I know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou. If so, this demonstrates the depth of thought that has gone into creating a masterpiece.

Using my own film judging criteria I ranked this excellent film a strong 73, with mostly 7s. There were 8s for story and acting with profound performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman as the leads.

The story sticks to prison drama conventions, detailing the monotony of prison life and the punishing effect time can have on the soul. The film also effectively entwines the genres of mystery and crime fiction into the story telling to make the story appeal to a wider audience.

IMDb users have rightly referred to Shawshank as ‘a classic piece of unforgettable film-making’ and suggest that viewers ‘prepare to be moved’. This film has been ranked the top-rated film by users on IMDb for a reason; I highly recommend watching it for the experience of a well told story!

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