Overview
19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.
Jack O’Connell plays Eric, a 19 year old convict, who gets ‘starred up’ – meaning he gets ‘promoted’ from juvenile detention to adult prison – in his case 2 years early due to his extremely violent behaviour.
There is no other backstory – we join when Eric arrives in the new prison and experience first hand how he endures and persists in this prison – the same one his father has already been in for 14 years.
The movie is very raw, brutal and visceral yet actually the core of the story is about peeling back the thick layers of aggression and peeking into the humane relationships.
I won’t go into the plot any further. It is a very powerful movie – the script is tight and the acting is very strong and credible. The dialogue is a bit hard to follow at time so I cheated and turned the subtitles on.
Recommended.
