In 1994 The Shawshank Redemption came out and critics were practically begging the movie going public to see this movie. The reviews rained praise down on the film and even with its 7 Oscar nominations there still was not great public demand for The Shawshank Redemption at the box office. The low box office demand for The Shawshank Redemption made it an inexpensive movie to show on television and it wasn’t until The Shawshank Redemption hit free television that people began to realize just how good this movie really is. The Shawshank Redemption is based on a story written originally by Stephen King and then adapted for the big screen by Frank Darabont. For his work in adapting King’s story into a screenplay Darabont was nominated for an Oscar. The movie stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Red Redding. Morgan Freeman was also nominated for an Oscar for his work in The Shawshank Redemption and the movie got Oscar nominations in 5 other categories. Even though The Shawshank Redemption did not win any Academy Awards it is still quite a feat to be nominated for 7 of them and it is a shame that more people did not get out to the theaters to see what the critical acclaim was for. On the other hand it is a very good thing that people finally got to see the brilliance behind The Shawshank Redemption that the critics saw from the day it was released.

The Shawshank Redemption is about a high profile financial whiz named Andy Dufresne who gets wrongfully accused of killing his wife and her secret lover and gets sent to do hard time at the notoriously rough Shawshank Prison. While he is there he observes guards beating an inmate to death on his first night and Andy himself is raped by a group of inmates. He begins to adjust to prison life a little and soon makes friends with Red who is known as the guy that can get you anything you want in Shawshank. Andy asks Red for a rock hammer so he can collect rocks and after Red gets him the rock hammer a friendship develops. As Andy is out in the prison yard a guard overhears him talking about his previous skills as a financial manager and the guard asks Andy for financial advice. Soon Andy is giving all of the guards financial advice and taking care of all of their financial needs. The guards, and the inmates, come to respect Andy but Andy is raped once again and this time a massive manhunt is conducted by the guards within the prison and when the rapist is caught the guards beat him into a coma. After that point Andy never has a problem again. Soon the warden of the prison takes notice of Andy’s skills and wants Andy to keep illegal books for a contracting scheme the warden has developed. Andy agrees but in return he wants improvements made to the prison library and he wants to be in charge of the library. Andy is given the library and soon he starts helping inmates get their high school diplomas and teaching them to read. But the warden becomes nervous when a series of inmates start saying that Andy is innocent and could be set free. The warden wants his dirty little secret kept so he stages a murder and blames it on Andy.

The rest of the movie has twists and turns to it that can only be described as brilliant and you are on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. The Shawshank Redemption is a great film and if you ever get the chance you should see this Academy Award nominated movie to understand what all of the critical acclaim was about.