Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding was given life on screen by Morgan Freeman the legend. Anyone who have seen Shawshank Redemption will never forget Red. The mature, funny, innocent and intelligent old man who at the same time is narrating the story. Whoever wrote the screenplay has done a marvelous job in creating Red. If I'm to quote a scene, here it is where Red is appearing before an official who is supposed to grant him parole after an interview. His parole application had been rejected several times before for reason unclear to him. Here is that scene (Courtesy: IMDB)
Parole Hearings Man:
Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?
Red:
Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.
Parole Hearings Man:
Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society...
Red:
I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up word.
A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a
tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for
what I did?
Parole Hearings Man:
Well, are you?
Red:
There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here,
or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a
young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to
him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things
are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's
left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word.
So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time.
Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
