The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

In the yard, the men listen to the opera and imagine its meaning.

Scene 112 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:01 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 112

After a banker is wrongly imprisoned for murder, he uses patience, expertise, and friendship to survive Shawshank and build a path to freedom.

Scenes 1–8
Andy’s former life and conviction frame a banker whose apparent control has vanished.
Scenes 9–10
Inside prison, Andy needs a way to survive without surrendering the inner self he is trying to protect.
Scenes 11–30
Andy enters Shawshank and confronts its violence, hierarchy, and rules.
Scene 31
Andy and Red begin the friendship that will carry the film’s argument about hope and connection.
Scene 51
Andy tells Red that prisoners retain an inner life and hope, though Red warns hope can be dangerous.
Just before
Scene 109
Wiley jumps up in the bathroom, tangling his pants around his ankles.
Scene 110
Prisoners across Shawshank stop work to listen to the music.
Scene 111
Andy conducts the opera from the guard station, transported by the music.
Scene 112
This scene

112EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- DAY (1955)

CAMERA TRACKS along groups of men, all riveted.

RED (V.O.)

I have no idea to this day what

them two Italian ladies were

singin' about. Truth is, I don't

want to know. Some things are best

left unsaid. I like to think they

were singin' about something so

beautiful it can't be expressed in

words, and makes your heart ache

because of it.

CAMERA brings us to Red.

RED (V.O.) (CONT'D)

I tell you, those voices soared.

Higher and farther than anybody in

a gray place dares to dream. It was

like some beautiful bird flapped

into our drab little cage and made

these walls dissolve away...and for

the briefest of moments -- every

last man at Shawshank felt free.