» Prisons de Femmes / Marked Girls (1938, France)
One thing seems to unify the views of those who have provided synopses of this melodrama; despite the impression given by the film’s title, the prison content, they all agree, is disappointingly brief.
» Ga, Ga – Chwala bohaterom / Ga, Ga: Glory to the Heroes (1986, Poland)
As much as this sounds like a prison movie – it involves prisoners being sent on ‘penitentiary space cruisers’ to claim unknown, uninhabited planets with little or no assurance of their safe return – it’s far from it.
» Das fidele Gefängnis / The Merry Jail (1917, Germany)
Big House Fledermaus. A few benign prison scenes in a benign film.
» half (2014, South Korea)
Beige, slightly disappointing tale of a trans woman very alone in the prison system.
» Baykot / Boycott (1986, Iran)
Compelling movie tracking a revolutionary’s doubts as his execution approaches.
» 40 Sticks (2020, Kenya)
Thriller involving an escort bus, eight death row killers, and a mysterious series of throat cuttings that afflicts them all.
» Bajocero / Below Zero (2021, Spain)
Taut action-thriller; an escort van is ambushed in the middle of a freezing night.
» Le droit d’aimer (1972, France / Italy)
A faithful woman secures a visit with her political prisoner partner after more than two years.
» A cavallo della tigre / Riding the Tiger (2002, Italy)
Pale remake of the 1961 movie of the same name about an unwilling escapee.
» Swamp Women (1956, USA)
Undercover cop escapes prison to recover stolen diamonds in the Louisiana swamp. Tedious.