Think of some of the most memorable moments you've ever witnessed on film.
A film critic's list might look something like this: Michael Corleone kissing brother Fredo in The Godfather: Part II, Marlon Brando in the back of a taxi cab in On The Waterfront or Dustin Hoffman pounding his fists on the church glass in The Graduate.
Most college-aged kids would have a list resembling this: Al Pacino's final minutes as Tony Montana in Scarface, Edward Norton realizing his connection to Tyler Durden in Fight Club and Keanu Reeves saying "whoa" when he enters The Matrix.
But if you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty of memorable movie moments, what could possibly be better than Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) crawling out of raw sewage into rain-soaked triumph in one of the best movies from the past 20 years, The Shawshank Redemption.
In my opinion, there is not one scene in the history of film that can equal the explosive combination of drama and conquest presented in this sequence. And so far, there has not been a movie moment that has stuck with me longer -- the film was released almost 10 years ago -- than this one has. Let's just say that it will make those hairs on the back of your neck work overtime.
But what makes Andy's redemption scene so moving has very little to do with the sequence itself, but rather all of the events preceding it in one of the most gut-wrenchingly poignant films ever made.
In what was his first feature film, writer and director Frank Darabont crafted a masterpiece of the atrocity that was prison life in Shawshank. But he did not do it alone. The film is based on a short story by novelist Stephen King -- long known for fright-night tales that were meant for cheap thrills -- that arguably contains some of the strongest material ever written by the author. Trading horror for heart, King provided the nucleus for Darabont's distinctive vision. And what a vision it was.
From the moment Andy steps out of his prison transport bus and into the desolate fortress of Shawshank, we know he's in the wrong place. There is not a shred of evidence that supports his claim of innocence, but we still know he's in the wrong place.
Whether or not Andy -- a banker who discovers that his wife has been unfaithful -- is guilty is not the issue in this film. The real question is: Will he survive inside this horrid place, or will he crack as those before him have? One thing is for sure -- he will not be alone in the matter.
Among the many inmates who crowd the large prison yard of Shawshank is Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), Andy's fast friend and partner in his ordeal. Red is the man who can get things for other prisoners and, as he tells Andy, is the only guilty man in Shawshank. The friendship that these two forge could easily have fallen into formulaic buddy movie territory, but as it turns out their bond is anything but ordinary.
Freeman is the type of actor who can handle any assignment thrown in his direction, and he takes the character of Red to new levels by offering Andy some of the strongest words of wisdom ever uttered on screen in a believable and heartfelt manner. Robbins, equally seizing the opportunity presented before him, matches Freeman in ways that only he can -- by allowing us to feel his suffering, his pain, his anguish and, finally, his redemption. It's safe to say that Shawshank could not have flourished without these two seemingly perfect lead actors.
In the end, though, everything comes back to Darabont's vision.
Whether it's a tracking shot of an early morning prison hall or Andy lounging in the warden's office playing opera music to the delighted ears of Shawshank, Darabont has given us a portrait of harrowing and exultant prison life. He has also given us one of the most spectacular films, not to mention moments, in the past decade.
