The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

Andy notices ants above the library shelves and calls Red to look.

Scene 98 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Andy
Red

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 55 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 98

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 95
Brooks packs his few possessions and writes to his prison friends.
Scene 96
Dressed to leave, Brooks prepares to mail his letter and carry out his plan.
Scene 97
Andy reads Brooks’s letter; Red grieves that Brooks could not adapt outside.
Scene 98
This scene

98INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1954)

Andy is sorting books on the cart. He replaces a stack on the shelf -- and pauses, noticing a line of ants crawling up the wood. He glances up. The ants disappear over the top. He pulls a chair over and stands on it, peers cautiously over.

ANDY

Red!

Red steps in with an armload of files. Andy gingerly reaches in, grabs a black feathered wing, and pulls out a dead crow.

RED

(softly)

Is that Jake?