The Escapist (2008)

Director:

Rupert Wyatt

Writers:

Daniel Hardy (writer)
Rupert Wyatt (writer)

Release Date:

20 June 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

5 Men. 4 Walls. 1 Plan.

Plot:

Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict fourteen years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Tunnel | Confession Booth | London England | Nonlinear Timeline

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Brian Cox	...	Frank Perry
Damian Lewis	...	Rizza
Joseph Fiennes	...	Lenny Drake
Seu Jorge	...	Viv Batista
Liam Cunningham	...	Brodie
Dominic Cooper	...	Lacey
Steven Mackintosh	...	Tony
Ned Dennehy	...	Jumpy Con
Vinnie McCabe	...	Sam (as Vincent McCabe)
Jack Walsh	...	Sikes
Frank O'Sullivan	...	Hedges
Stephen Farrelly	...	Two Ton
Domhnall O'Donoghue	...	Mary
George Seremba	...	Stan
Eleanor McLynn	...	Frank's Daughter

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Picture Farm

Trivia:

Director Rupert Wyatt revealed on the DVD commentary that Damian Lewis wore ladies underwear throughout filming.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the scene in which Perry meets his wife, and he looks around the doorway, behind him is a sign stating the prison regulations. However, about three quarters of the way down the list, 'prison' is erroneously spelled 'prision'.

Quotes:

Rizza: You know the one thing you've got going for you, Frank? You're too old to die young.

Soundtrack:

The Escapist

"It's our imagination that makes us free…"

Frank Perry (Brian Cox) is a long term prisoner in a London jail where the guards look the other way and one would be wise to avoid the attentions of Rizzo (Damian Lewis), the boss inmate and his unhinged junkie brother Tony (Steven Mackintosh in scenery chewing form). The arrival of a new cell mate, Lacey (played by newcomer Dominic Cooper) coincides with Perry receiving the first letter from his family in fourteen years. His daughter is a heroin addict and close to death. Perry decides he must get out, to see her and make things right while there is still time. He goes to his closest friend Brodie (Liam Cunningham) and they enlist on-the-edge pugilist and thief Lenny Drake (Joseph Fiennes) to put together their plan.

But the film begins with the escape, cleverly setting up many questions in the head of the viewer, which are then answered in flashback. We want to know why Frank starts the escape attempt what appears to be a stab wound, how drug dealer Viv Batista (Seu Jorge) gets involved and why Lacey is part of the team when he has arrived in the prison so recently. The answers come, but slowly so that it's only at the very end that the little hints and clues scattered through the story of the escape attempt itself make sense.

This structure and the final plot twist would alone make this film worth repeat viewing, but not just for that. Writers Daniel Hardy and Rupert Wyatt (Wyatt also directed) let images rather than words do the talking, and with a cast of this calibre it pays off brilliantly. The actors are allowed to use their faces and bodies to tell us the story: Brian Cox letting his face fall into a pile of regret when he reads the letter, Damian Lewis's posture as he walks past the cells to find out what happened to his brother, the tiny shifts of expression on Dominic Cooper's face as he relives his forced dalliance in the showers with Tony, from self pity to self hatred and back again. It's top notch stuff.

Comparisons with "Shawshank Redemption" are inevitable, but while "Redemption" was really a story about hope, "The Escapist" is actually a film about redemption, about the single unselfish act that can redeem wasted years, perhaps a wasted life. And, as Perry points out, that we're only as free as we allow ourselves to be.