This is a grittily realistic British prison drama about a young, arrogant and uncontrollable thug who is transferred to the adult prison where his father is also incarcerated for life. He immediately establishes his credentials as a violent psycho not to be messed with. (I kept expecting the cliché scene of the new guy getting hazed -- or worse -- by the current inmates, but that is not what happens to Eric at all.) Eric is a force of nature. The other inmates are now in his world.
After a while, pretty well everyone is negatively affected in some way because of his arrival and actions, including his father and others trying to help him; however, the important question in the narrative apparently is whether he will have a reconciliation with his equally messed-up father.
This sometimes shocking movie provides us a fascinating insight into a hidden, bleak world none of us will ever experience (assuming the best of IMDb readers). For most of us, it is as alien as Avatar. If this movie is to be believed, UK prisons are primitive places -- except for the gloriously articulate streams of chav profanity, which were like Shakespearean curses. UK prisons are apparently more like US prisons than Dutch or Scandinavian prisons.
Strangely, I felt sympathy for Eric, even at his most animalistic. It helps that he had this youthful face. You can only wonder what kind of childhood would have produced such rage and violence. But Eric is no victim. Quite the contrary. At the age of 10, he melted the face off of a pedophile who had picked the wrong boy.
It was nice to see a movie that relies on an extreme setting, interesting story, fine writing and good acting. It almost felt like a fly-on-the wall documentary. Like many British movies, you get the feeling that the actors are really the characters. Despite its content, this was actually an intelligent and nuanced movie.
Fortunately, there were Dutch subtitles at my viewing because much of the dialogue was difficult to understand.
Also, although this is a bloody movie, no gory scene truly disturbed me, and I am squeamish when it comes to that.
I'm giving it an 8 rather than a 9 because of the film's downbeat tone. British movie makers have a disturbing way of trying to get you to care about lowlife. This film is so NOT Hollywood. In the Hollywood version, Oliver would have succeeded in rehabilitating Eric. In this very British movie, we are left to wonder what the hell happened to Oliver. I suppose the underlying message here is that therapy and rehabilitation are just not possible for someone like Eric, even by someone like Oliver. With him, you're just pissing against the wind.
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