» Prison on Fire (1987, Hong Kong)
Quaint and oddly acclaimed film which is not a prison-based Inferno as the title might lead one to expect. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 2:10 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
» Un Chant D’Amour (1950, France)
‘A Song of Love’. Jean Genet had all the credentials to write and direct a prison movie – in his younger years he was a petty thief, vagrant and prostitute and spent a number of years in juvenile and adult penal facilities. This 26-minute, soundless, black & white film draws on some of that experience, and no doubt his experience as a gay man in prison. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm. Updated on May 7th, 2020 at 9:46 pm.
» Dead Man Walking (1995, USA)
Maybe this isn’t a real prison movie, either. But it’s one for which Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for her portrayal of the dedicated Sister Helen Prejean, who in real life was a Roman Catholic nun who served as spiritual adviser to a killer on Death Row at Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:56 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
» In the Name of the Father (1993, UK)
This purports to be the true story of Gerry Conlon and the Guildford Four. The Belfast-born Conlon and three others, suspected by Police of being a crack IRA death squad, were convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings, and his father, aunt and other members of her family were convicted of bomb-making. They were arrested just a couple of days after the British Police won new anti-terrorist laws that allowed them to hold terrorism suspects for seven days without charge, and Conlon claimed that Police used that time to beat confessions out of him and his co-accused, with whom he lived briefly in a London squat. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:53 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
» Escape from Alcatraz (1979, USA)
Based on a true story and starring Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris, the mastermind behind the notorious 1962 escape attempt, in which Morris and Clarence and John Anglin managed to escape the island, but no-one really knows if they made it to freedom or perished in the icy waters of San Francisco Bay. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:45 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
» Duvar / The Wall (1983, Turkey)
Having been very critical of Midnight Express for its xenophobic vilification of the locals, I was keen to see a slightly more trustworthy portrayal of the Turkish prison system. And the two films are different; while Midnight Express has not one prison guard who is neither corrupt nor brutal, Duvar has… one! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm. Updated on April 28th, 2020 at 10:14 pm.
» Attica (1980, USA)
A made-for-TV account of the 1971 Attica riot, in which 39 people died – including 25 prisoners and nine guard hostages shot by the State troopers who stormed the prison and ended the four days of rioting. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:31 pm. Updated on August 25th, 2009 at 10:37 pm.
» Porridge (1979, UK)
I grew up with Porridge (the TV series), and when I started working in prisons I thought it more accurately portrayed what life inside the walls was really like than the more dramatic images of prison on TV – which usually concentrated on the violence and brutality. It showed humour, it showed some mutual regard (and some mutual contempt) between prison officers and prisoners, and it showed good-hearted, bumbling staff working alongside officious, cynical ones. Not so many good officers, now that I come to think of it.
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:26 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
» Chopper (2000, Australia)
Early in the film ‘Chopper’ Read stabs Keithy George in the neck in a labour yard in Pentridge’s ‘H’ Division in 1978. When staff arrive, Read helpfully confides in them: “Keithy seems to have done himself a mischief.” Then, turning to his flailing victim as he is being taken away, he asks, “You all right, Keithy? Off you go, mate. Off to the sick bay. Whinge, whinge..”. It is the blackest of humour, but pretty well sums up the man on whom the film is based, and if that dialogue doesn’t appeal, chances are you won’t like the film. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pm. Updated on May 7th, 2020 at 9:55 pm.
» Me’Ahorei Hasoragim / Beyond the Walls (1984, Israel).
I can’t quite make up my mind about this one. I feel I should rate it highly, partly because of its brave treatment of the subject matter, and weirdly because it was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Foreign Film) in 1985, which could suggest (if not critical acclaim) merit of some type. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:14 pm. Updated on April 15th, 2012 at 1:26 pm.