Hi this is Steve. You hear a lot of rules in film school. They'll tell you that a movie can only be about one person and that that character absolutely has to change. They'll talk about unity of action and the need for a clear three-act structure. They'll even tell you that voiceover is the last refuge of the failed screenwriter.

There are good reasons for some of these, but the truth is I've never been a fan of hard and fast rules because great movies

tend to ignore rules, or to be more accurate, great movies make their own.

The Shawshank Redemption is just such a movie. It's told primarily through voice over,

and the central character of the story isn't even the one talking. The most important action in the film

is not only off screen, but hidden from everyone in the film as well as the audience.

And while I won't say that the central character of Andy Defrain doesn't change, he does, but his

essential nature, the strength, patience, and determination necessary to achieve

his goal was there with him from the very beginning.

In other words, if Frank Daribond had pitched his idea to your average screenwriting professor,

there's a good chance they would have told him that a movie like that simply couldn't work.

And yet somehow, all of those elements come together in a story that is as powerful and heartfelt today

as it was when it premiered 25 years ago.

So if you haven't seen the Shawshank Redemption yet, take a trip to our website cinnophiles.net,

where you can buy or stream Shawshank

along with every other movie we've ever reviewed.

Then come back on Friday for part two

of our discussion of this great film only on the

cinephiles. I don't think y'all to be doing this to yourself Andy. This is a

shitty pipe dreams. I mean Mexico is way to hell down there and you're in here and that's the way it is.

Yeah, right. I swear it is.

It's down there and I'm in here.

...