A classic film that tops just about everyone’s “best of” list, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of wrongfully accused accountant Andy Dufresne, who spent 19 long years in a prison cell for a murder he didn’t commit. Spoiler alert: he escapes with the help of a small rock hammer and crawls to freedom through 500 yards of sh*t-smelling foulness we can’t even imagine. But before he got to that river of poo, he had to dig his way from his cell to the underbelly of the Shawshank State Penitentiary. Just how long was that tunnel? If Andy was digging with that tiny hammer for 17 years, how long was he digging for? And how much did he dig per day?
Graphic designer Shahed Syed, aka dehahs, asked this question himself, and decided to break down Andy’s escape in an infographic, inch by inch. Or, more accurately, 1/64th of an inch at a time.
Andy, behind a poster of Rita Hayworth in 1949 to Marilyn Monroe in the mid-’50s to Raquel Welch when he finally escaped in 1966, dug 1/64th of an inch per day, for a grand total of 10 feet. Ten feet, and 17 long years, a gentle poke at a time. Incredible.
Somehow, this knowledge satisfies something deep inside me. It’s answering a question I never even knew I wanted answered.
(Via AV Club)
