According to IMDb, this is the most well-liked movie of all time. And true enough, I’ve never met a person who did not like it. A film about two convicts passing the time behind prison walls could have been an insufferable downer, but there’s a mystery behind Tim Robbins’ main character, Andy, that keeps you deeply engrossed in Stephen King’s story. Andy selflessly inspires the other inmates at increasingly greater risk to himself, eventually becoming almost a folkloric hero by the end. Along the way, he endears himself to a fine cast of supporting players headed by Morgan Freeman as Redd, who narrates the film more beautifully than a film has ever been narrated before.
