Heroes in Double Indemity

          At first glance the film Double Indemity appears to be completely devoid of characters willing to fill the role of the hero. The films two primary characters Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson are both working together to plan a murder of an innocent man for personal and financial gain. Several other characters such as the character of Lola have no villianous intentions but simply do not impact the films main conflict enough to stand out as a true hero. There is one characater though that I believe to be the true hero of Double Indemity.

           The character of Barton Keyes qualifies in my mind as the hero of the story due to the way he seems to always be getting closer and closer to solving the murder commited by Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson. Many would argue that Keyes does not try to solve the murders for entirely altrustic means, as it is his duty as an insurance investigator to look into claims that appear suspicious. While this may be true, he does not struggle with many of the tropes of film noir that would prevent him from being considered the hero. He has no glaring villianous intentions like the character of Lola, however unlike Lola he impacts the main conflict by drawing ever closer to the truth to the point where Neff feels threatened by him.

          Perhaps some of the most crucial evidence for Barton Keyes being the hero of Double Indemity arrives at the conclusion of the movie. Throughout the movie Neff is leaving his confession to Keyes, and at the conclusion of his tale we see that Keyes has been standing outside of Neff's office for long enough to understand what is happening. Neff's decision to leave the recording for Keyes is significant as it shows that even Neff, the character that was responsible for the murders, views Keyes as the hero who has the greatest chance of being able to set things right. Also, at the very end of the film when Neff collapses from his injuries that he sustained when he killed Phyllis we see Keyes walk over and converse with him. In film noir a common trope is to have a scene of the guilty party being taken down by authorities/the hero in the final shot of the film. By choosing to have Keyes standing next to the injuried Neff the film is indirectly stating that Keyes is the authority that can challenge the heinous crimes of Walter and Phyllis.