The Escapist is a 2008 drama thriller starring Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Liam Cunningham, Seu Jorge, Dominic Cooper, Steven Mackintosh, Stephen Farrelly and Damian Lewis. It is directed and cowritten by Rupert Wyatt, and premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to considerable acclaim. An IrishUK coproduction, the film was produced by Alan Moloney of Parallel Films and Adrian Sturges of Picture Farm.
Frank Perry Brian Cox is a lifer and has long accepted that he will never see the outside again. When Perry receives his first letter in fourteen years that his cherished daughter is a drug addict and near death following an overdose, he starts to think about escaping. He plans an escape with help from Lenny Drake Joseph Fiennes, Brodie Liam Cunningham and Viv Batista Seu Jorge. But when Perrys new cellmate James Lacey Dominic Cooper gets noticed by Tony the brother of the powerful inmate Rizza, things get more complicated and lead to Tonys death. When Perry receives the bad news that his daughter has died his plans change.Perry nears freedom, as he climbs towards a London Underground exit. The story snaps back to within the prison where Perry is offering himself to be killed by Rizza for failing to bring Lacey to him for punishment. The escape scenes were Perrys hallucinations as he was dying, and he sacrificed himself to cause distraction, allowing the other prisoners to escape. ........
Source: Wikipedia