Scott Myers
1 min readFeb 15, 2020

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The dialogue that comes to mind is that side from Colonel Mackenzie:

I hoped today might be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing. That’s it for now, then next week, Command will send a different message. Attack at dawn. There is only one way this war ends. Last man standing. Have someone see to your wounds. Now fuck off, Lance Corporal.

That line is exactly the same line Red says to Andy in The Shawshank Redemption:

Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

Quite literally the same line. Both Red and the Colonel are coming from a deeply cynical space. Mackenzie demonstrates that with his following lines. Yes, he gave the ‘stand down’ order, but he fully expects there will be new orders to attack. He knows war. The inevitable end: Last man standing.

It’s a compelling private exchange between the Colonel and Schofield, the penultimate beat in the Corporal’s bittersweet journey. He still needs to locate Blake’s brother.

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