Cigarettes!


"Cigarettes! Cigarettes for the new one." "Cigarettes? No knives or files or anything?" "Try one."
This small dialog is repeated a half dozen times without any variation, as guards' hands are shown pilfering the new one's (R. Coleman) received gift as it is passed on to the prisoner. He finally ends up receiving only one cigarette out of the pack. I always thought the monotoned and precisely repeated phrases were rather a hoot, perhaps mimicking how subtitles would have handled such a scene in the silent movies.

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I think you misunderstood the scene. The cigarettes arrived in one piece along with the letter - he throws them to Pierre shortly after. What was being shared was everyone's cut of Madame Vidal's money, neatly illustrating the corrupt nature of the penal system.

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