Back in January when the results of the normblog movies poll were posted, some surprise was expressed at the joint fourth place achieved by Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption. Actually I was surprised myself. Though it's a movie I loved, it wouldn't make my top 10 any time. In today's Observer, Mark Kermode writes about the reasons for its current standing:
Like most who reviewed The Shawshank Redemption when it was first released in 1994, I was impressed, but I had no idea just how important the film would become to some audiences. Certainly, I couldn't predict that in a few years' time it would be voted Best Film of the Nineties and Fourth Best Film of all time by the readers of Empire magazine; [and] that it would rival The Godfather and Star Wars for the top spot of the Internet Movie Database subscribers' poll...The secret of the movie's success according to Kermode? In one word, hope.Now on the eve of a tenth anniversary re-release, the film is widely considered a feelgood masterpiece to rank alongside Casablanca and It's A Wonderful Life as a perrenial audience favourite.
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Ask any video dealer and they'll tell you that the key factor in Shawshank's unexpected success on tape was simply word of mouth. Renters who had given the film a wide berth in cinemas were now taking The Shawshank Redemption home on the recommendation of friends and family, increasing numbers of whom were having profound, even life-changing, experiences with the movie. Repeat viewing was a big factor, too, with fans coming back to rent the same film time and time again, developing an intense personal relationship with the themes and characters in the comfort of their own home.