Un prophète (2009)

One of the greatest films I have ever seen.

The opening scene is a young offender being transferred to an adult prison - no family, we don't really know where he comes from at all. Shortly, he is seconded into the service of the organized crime ring where he climbs the ranks.

A Prophet is powerful and raw with simple though energizing dialogue.

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The Way Back (2010)

I often fear that film interpretations of fact based epics will default towards the emotional rather than take pains to help the viewer enter the pain of the protagonist. The Way Back tackles the incredible trek of gulag escapees from the Soviet north down into northern India. It becomes clear that while they can not spend time on each of the characters, they do not default to a soft retelling. The harsh realities are depicted unfettered by too much orchestral dazzle.

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The Life of David Gale (2003)

This crime thriller evokes the many 1980s and 1990s classic plot twist films. That isn't to say that it is any less clever than its precursors, but it does use a well-used mechanic with its audience.

David Gale (Kevin Spacey) is on death row for a murder of a colleague. Ironically, both he and his colleague were unpopular advocates against capital punishment. A reporter (Kate Winslet) is called in to interview the prisoner just days prior to the execution. She begins to unravel the real story, but will she unravel it in time to save David's life or not?

The film presents four distinct culture clashes: midwestern vs. university vs. press vs. prison. This helps the viewer see the topic of capital punishment from varying perspectives and does a fair job of fleshing out the debate.

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Missing (1982)

Missing is based on the true story of an American who went missing during the Chilean military coup of 1973. Jack Lemmon plays his father and Sissy Spacek plays his wife. Together they search for clues as to where he could have disappeared to.

It's too bad that it takes an American to go missing for anyone to care about the thousands of Chileans who disappeared in Pinochet's Chile. At least it does bring out the American involvement in the illegal government takeover.

Costa-Gavras (Amen) wrote and directed the film. It's not sentimental or polemic. It focuses on the stories of a few people and through them he reveals the horrors of the coup.

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Midnight Express (1978)

Midnight Express is based on the true story of a man who was caught smuggling heroin out of Turkey in the 1970s. From the beginning we are shown that Billy's decision to board a plane with drugs strapped to his body was a clear mistake and not one he made of sound mind pushing us to want clemency for him. The Turkish authorities decide to use him as an example - I guess to keep the drugs in their own country? - and sentence him to over 30 years in prison.

Billy nearly goes insane in the harsh prison conditions and almost loses hope. The film seemed quite balanced in its approach to justice, American patronization, and freedom.

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Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

This is a very well made documentary in that it reveals information in such incremental and emotionally charged ways that the viewer can not dismiss anyone's point of view.

A father and son are accused of molesting children in their basement as they offered computer classes. The film documents the accusations and through home movies it also follows how the accusations and sentences affected the Friedman family. It is a raw and gut wrenching film despite the lighthearted treatment of the issues by some of the family.

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The Fighter (2010)

The Fighter bares the essence of what it means to relate one person to another - as gracious, broken people who can't give up.

Based on an extraordinary true story, stellar actors take on the roles of Dicky and Micky Ward and their family. The boxing brothers hail from lower income Massachusetts and deal with family pressure and inner struggles.

What I really liked about the film is the characters' desire for reconciliation, something they were willing to fight for.

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Hunger (2008)

In 1981, British Northern Ireland prisons took in Irish Republican Army soldiers (some would call them terrorists). To draw attention to their cause, several of these prisoners decided to end their lives through a hunger strike. This film chronicles the final weeks of Bobby Sands in an unprecedented realism from the beatings delivered by the guards (of whom we get an intimate portrait as well) to the shut down of Sands' body functions. Hunger is terribly affecting and the film presents the Irish struggle in a balanced way.

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Das Experiment (2001)

This psychological thriller from Germany takes a look at human behaviour when there are expectations placed on them in a prison situation. The simulation experiment splits a group of civilian men into prisoners and prison guards and observes them for a few weeks. What occurs is tragic and disturbing.

It is an interesting film as the horror builds slowly on things we encounter every day. The story was based on an actual experiment done at Stanford University.

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Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)

I've Loved You So Long is a gorgeous film from France. It tackles some difficult issues, but very graciously and from a character's perspective.

A younger sister, Léa, invites her older sister, Juliette, to live with her and her family when she is released from prison after a long sentence. Juliette is not easy to love and behaves selfishly, but Léa persists.

Special credit goes to Kristin Scott Thomas who holds her own in this French speaking role and who evokes complex sympathy.

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Rounders (1998)

Edward Norton and Matt Damon team up in this film about friendship and money.

Mike and Lester work as a team when playing poker - soaking their opponents every time. When Lester gets out of prison, Mike who is now pursuing an honest career feels indebted to him and bows to Lester's invitation to gamble. His grace towards Lester is taken advantage of and the two find themselves deep in debt to a powerful gang.

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Bent (1997)

So many films have been made about the Holocaust, but the subjects have typically been Jews. This film focuses on the persecution of homosexuals in Germany prior to and then during the war.

It is based on a play, so the film is beautifully composed and the dialogue is rich. Clive Owen and Canadian actor Lothaire Bluteau provide powerful bodies and characters to bring the story to life.

It is a desperately sad story, nearly devoid of hope.

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Standard Operating Procedure (2008)

The maker of The Fog of War brings another personal interview based documentary focusing on the abuses of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib. Errol Morris points the camera at the people charged with mistreatment of prisoners and the people charged with investigating the matter. We get an inside look into the minds that were demonized in the media and the policies that allowed the abuses.

The film is affecting and enraging.

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Half Nelson (2006)

Another film about school, except it's a more real, dimensional and broken teacher than what we are usually treated to.

Teacher Dan takes curriculum into his own hands at the urban junior high he is placed in. While offering his students college fare rather than what his principal wants him to teach, Dan has a dark addiction to cocaine and crack. He begins to build a relationship with Drey, a student and basketball player on the team he coaches. Drey also has a connection to Dan's coke dealer.

The performances are raw and honest making the message of redemption and grace all the more powerful.

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Sling Blade (1996)

Launching his film career and securing a title of serious actor, Billy Bob Thornton writes and directs himself in Sling Blade - based on his play Some People Call it a Sling Blade.

Karl Childers has served a couple decades in the state mental hospital in the southern US for murder. Despite the brutal crime, he has not exhibited violence since the crime, in fact he is a gentle, simple-minded man with a predisposition toward Christianity. He returns to his home town where he begins to work for an engine repair shop and where he befriends a boy and his mother.

Karl plays the role of holiness and he does it with such humility that it is difficult to picture him dealing out judgment. He also plays the role of abused child and some of the stories he tells will break your heart.

This is an excellent film from start to finish. I recommend the director's cut - all 2 1/2 hours.

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Say Anything... (1989)

Certain I wouldn't really like this 80's romantic comedy, I begrudgingly sat down to watch it with a bunch of women. Happily, I was smitten immediately with this classic teenage romance.

Lloyd is graduating and hasn't much direction in life, but a solid belief that kickboxing will be big in the future. He gets up the nerve to call the prettiest and smartest girl in his class and ask her out. He manages to charm her enough to scare her daddy.

The Cusack siblings do super well as youth, keeping the angst levels just below boiling point and maintaining a cool realism. This film was made in response to all those sappy teenage 80's movies.

Oh, and SNL has a great parody of the scene Lloyd is holding up the stereo playing Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes.

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Public Enemies (2009)

Public Enemies is a romanticized look at depression era mega-criminals - not much substance to speak of.

John Dillinger, a notorious and popular bank robber and prison buster, is pursued by a reorganized FBI. While planning jobs with fellow felons and running from the law, Dillinger falls for a Métis girl in Chicago. His demise is somehow related to not wanting to betray his girl, but it all seems forced in the end.

Some of the crime elements of the story are very compelling, but his personal life is portrayed as something of an iconic hero. He killed people, enjoyed prostitutes, and robbed banks - none of which he was repentant of - not sure I'm going to mourn his death any more because he was in love with someone too.

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Before Night Falls (2000)

A biopic presenting both the life of writer Reinaldo Arenas and the oppression of Castro's Cuba.

Reinaldo grows up in a small village of abandoned women and their children in rural Cuba. His teacher recognizing his giftedness in writing, recommends that he continues his studies. He is nearly an adult when La Revolución hits Cuba and when he finishes his studies works at the National Library and begins authoring books. His books begin to draw attention and so does his homosexual lifestyle as homosexual activity is strictly forbidden in Cuba.

The strength of this film is that it intimately portrays Arena's struggle to be himself and express himself despite the ongoing persecution and censorship. Javier Bardem gives a strong performance that brings a pathos to what might be a typical story of hardship.

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Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

Since Polanski has returned to the spotlight in the recent efforts of extradition from Switzerland to face his criminal charges in the United States, I thought it was time to watch this documentary about the crime in question.

The film tracks Roman Polanski's life from start in World War II Poland through to his current work as a director. What is clear is that Mr. Polanski has led a tortured life with his near death experiences in the war, the murder of his wife and then being faced with imprisonment for statutory rape. Despite all of this, Polanski is able to create potent Oscar winning films.

The meat of the film is a look at the trial after Polanski was arrested for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. The trial judge is portrayed as fame hungry and as a result inept.

Certainly the issue is not resolved is California still wishes to sentence Polanski.

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Captives (1994)

In my effort to appreciate Tim Roth more than I already do, I watched this 15-year-old romance drama. Plus Julia Ormond is in it - bonus!

Ormond plays a recently separated dentist who takes a job caring for prisoners' teeth. Among the motley crew, she meets a rather forward and very friendly prisoner (Roth). The two develop a romance, but the relationship doesn't go unnoticed by one of the unsavory prisoners and their lives hang in the balance.

The film works essentially because of the great acting and semi-plausible story. Some of the kinkier parts of the movie just send it into roll-your-eyes territory, but there is enough tension to keep you watching.

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