4. Andy Dufresne The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The second appearance of a Tim Robbins character here. Falsely imprisoned for the murder of his wife and her lover, fallen banker Andy Dufresne learns the hard way in Shawshank State Penitentiary that he cant rely on anyone but himself. He spends twenty years gradually building up trust with the prison warden and the sadistic captain of the prison guards, making himself indispensible to them to acquire untouchable status with the inmates, as well as instrumental to the money laundering of their embezzlement from the proceeds of kickbacks for prison labour. Meanwhile, hes been busy carefully carving a hole in his cell wall The Shawshank Redemption is a supremely uplifting film, a film that allows for hope in the face of hopelessness or appears to. In fact, only Andy could possibly have plotted for nigh on two decades to escape and steal all of the funds hed hidden for his enemies, having them arrested for corruption and murder: and only Andy would have had the sheer iron will to spend twenty years carving an escape route through his wall with a succession of spoons. His best friend Red says as much all lifers are institutionalised, people without hope. All except for Andy Dufresne. His most magnificent moment, aside from the escape itself, is of course the scene where he locks himself in the wardens office to play Mozarts gorgeous The Marriage Of Figaro to the other inmates over the PA system, giving them the merest glimpse of beauty in hell: making them feel free. The little smile on Andys face says it all: this feeling is absolutely worth two weeks in solitary confinement.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
