The Shawshank Redemption

DIRECTED BY-:
Frank Darabont
STARRING-:
Tim Robbins
Morgan Freeman
Bob Gunton
YEAR OF RELEASE-:
 1994
PREMISE-:
Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

On a thematic and emotional level, 'The Shawshank Redemption' is brilliant. It has great acting, beautiful cinematography, a visceral score, well written characters, and excellent pacing. But, on a pure plot level, there were a few things that bothered me -:

• LUCKILY for Andy, Hadley chose to talk out loud about his financial problems at the SAME time the prisoners were applying tar on the roof.

• The warden CONVENIENTLY decides to make an exception in case of Andy and permits the giant posters of women on the wall. But how exactly did Andy know that the warden would be so generous? What if the warden had taken the poster off at that instant itself and had seen those scrapings on the wall? 

• Elmo Blatch, the real murderer of Andy's wife and her lover, CONVENIENTLY became the cellmate of Tommy in Thomaston prison. 

• Out of ALL prisons, Tommy (the ONLY person who can prove Andy's innocence), is CONVENIENTLY sent to SHAWSHANK prison, where Andy is serving his sentence.

• Being as smart and intelligent as he is shown to be, Andy should've known that Warden Norton (a man for whom Andy was laundering money for YEARS) wouldn't have supported the idea of Tommy testifying in Andy's favor. Hence, it would have made more sense for Andy to contact his lawyer IMMEDIATELY after learning of Tommy's encounter with Elmo Blatch. 

RATING -: 7/10