There have been prisoners in unwelcoming foreign jails before – in Russia (In Hell, 2003), Thailand (Brokedown Palace, 1999), Mexico (Get the Gringo, 2012), Morocco (Hell in Tangier, 2006), and of course Turkey (Midnight Express, 1978), amongst others. And now we have a well-to-do young American battling a corrupt justice system while languishing in the El Sexto Prison in Lima, Peru – the site of several real-life riots in the early ’80s (including one in 1981 in which 27 prisoners died in a gang-related fight, and one in 1984 in which 24 prisoners died) before it was closed in 1986. It’s based on the true story of Monty Fisher, who wrote the script. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 9th, 2013 at 9:48 pm. Updated on June 16th, 2013 at 2:39 pm.
So… this is a film “inspired by real life stories”, according to its director. Presumably, then, it doesn’t rely on a single real life story of a naive young Chinese girl who travels to Australia and innocently gets involved in a car rebirthing racket while supporting her long-time sponsor, whom she discovers is in jail. It does, however, allow the possibility that it is inspired by, say, four totally unconnected real life stories: one of a Chinese girl, one of a sponsor, another of a stolen car outfit and yet another of a man in jail. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 2nd, 2013 at 12:02 am. Updated on June 2nd, 2013 at 12:02 am.
The film’s title translates as ‘God bless you my son – St Martha Acatitla Prison’. It ought not be confused with Bless You, Prison (2002); though both are bleak and revel in the harshness of prison life, this one doesn’t offer much hope of a way out. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 26th, 2013 at 7:27 pm. Updated on June 2nd, 2013 at 12:23 pm.
K-11 sounded to me like a submarine, or a lubricant. I hadn’t realised that it is a real segregated housing option for gay and transsexual men at Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail, around which this drama is based. Loosely based, and with extra salaciousness, one hopes.
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Posted on May 20th, 2013 at 10:46 pm. Updated on May 20th, 2013 at 10:47 pm.
In 1988 the crime rate in the US rises by 400% and New York City becomes the sole maximum-security prison for the entire country, with a 50-foot containment wall around Manhattan Island and its bridges and waterways mined. The prison has no guards. And just one rule, apparently: ‘Once you go in, you don’t come out.’ Which sort of defeats the need for a prison, doesn’t it? If the prisoners are never coming out, why would a ruthless Government sacrifice New York to keep them alive? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 12th, 2013 at 6:44 pm. Updated on May 12th, 2013 at 6:44 pm.
There are lots of films about innocent men and women in prison. Few show the toll that false charges can have on an individual as this one does. And to make it even more troubling, it’s based on a true story. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 6th, 2013 at 9:36 pm. Updated on May 6th, 2013 at 9:36 pm.
Just in case a cop in prison who is actually an undercover cop in prison isn’t complex enough, this also boasts a prison guard who is undercover as a guard but who has worked for the undercover cop and is now working to keep him undercover, and, in the next cell to the undercover cop, a university professor (who at one point also claims to be an undercover cop) who is also a psychologist who has, as an ongoing client, a woman who thinks that he is her dead husband whom the undercover cop is convicted of killing. Phew!
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Posted on April 28th, 2013 at 8:55 pm. Updated on April 28th, 2013 at 8:55 pm.
Shapeshifter is brought to us by the same production company that produced Dead Men Walking (2005). Same year, same filming location (the old Lincoln Heights Jail), same terrorising of guards and prisoners by non-humans showing the same flesh-eating techniques, same inexplicable removal of her shirt by the heroine to reveal the same singlet top, same low budgets. Why not combine those budgets and make one better movie, one wonders? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on April 25th, 2013 at 10:15 pm. Updated on April 25th, 2013 at 10:24 pm.
If, like me, you love every one of those people the police wish to interview on Law & Order who find something with which to busy themselves (rather than just sit) while being asked questions by detectives, you’ll love the psychiatrist (Sidney Poitier) in this movie. The Poitier character clearly went to the same school as the Law & Order people, but took Distracted Filing During Psychiatric Consultations 101 instead of Preoccupied Activity During Questioning about a Homicide 101. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on April 18th, 2013 at 9:30 pm. Updated on April 18th, 2013 at 9:30 pm.
Vacation is one of those rare prison officer-centred prison movies. If it were not so understated, it would celebrate ordinary men – plodders, the unambitious, and a murderer – acting with honour.
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Posted on April 10th, 2013 at 10:46 pm. Updated on April 10th, 2013 at 10:46 pm.