Ambiguous Train

The concept or moral ambiguity is one made use of in many great works of film, but especially so in Runaway Train. This film follows the "protagonist", known criminal Manny, and his rapist sidekick Buck, two escaped cons on the lam. The story begins with Manny being glorified as the hero of the prison. Every inmate loves him, the people are trying to free him from solitary, and we have not seen anything that should tell us we cannot grow to love this man. On the other hand, the prison warden, Rankin, is the exact opposite of what we look for in a hero. He is mean, uncompromising, unfeeling, and ruthless. He keeps ourn potential hero locked up in solitary confinement for three years after all! Though he is so rough around the edges, society sees him as a protector, keeping the "scum" locked up and our families safe. What twe come to see as the film progresses is that not everything is as black and white as we think it is. Manny's dark, animalistic nature is slowly revealed to us through his actions and references to his past and Buck's quirky horndog nature is soon revealed to be the guise of a sadistic rapist. Rankin's guardian status is even challenged as we see it is more of an obsession with Manny and his animal nature. Rankin puts himself above all of the people he keeps in his prison, "ranking" them as such: God, himself, the prison guards, the dogs, human feces, and then the prisoners. He breaks the golden rule of the universe by putting himself above another. This is when the ambiguity of this film really hits home, leaving the audience confused and not really sure who to root for. On the one hand, Manny is the obvious protagonist, though he is a gruff criminal with a bad temper and a dark soul. Rankin is the hardass prison warden who thinks he is better than everyone else and will stop at nothing to prove it, yet he is trying to keep the streets clean of criminals and the inherent danger they carry with them. The hallmark of a truly powerful film with morally ambiguous themes is keeping the audience on their toes in terms of who they choose to sympathize with. In this respect, Runaway Train is the epitome of the morally ambiguous theme.