This movie is absurdly overrated by people who think soppy affirmative moviemaking accompanied by a lush score is synonymous with aesthetic brilliance.

The direction is nothing to write home about, the cinematography is, frankly, standard. The script has Steven King written all over it - a melodramatic plot involving the woes of an educated bloke told in overwrought dialogue full of clumsy metaphors. (A good example: the moment when the scriptwriter decided that the prisoner's interest in geology had to be spelled out for the dumber members of the audience "It's all about TIME and PRESSURE..." just in case anyone managed to miss the connection). Morgan Freeman is, as usual, superb but Tim Robbins is inconsistent as a man who goes from being the gaol newcomer to an old hand. While the film's sympathetic liberal political stance can be commended, it's certainly not a great work of art.