The Big House

For whatever reason, I really like prison "reality" shows like "Oz" and what was known in the U.S. as "Prisoner: Cell Block H", and known in its' Australia home as simply "Prisoner". "The Big House" seems to be another great Aussie export. It is running in the U.S. on the Sundance Channel. It seems to be very well done, and I enjoyed the episode I saw. I will add this to my "hard time" list of shows to watch regularly. Good work!

I saw this short two years ago at the Sundance Film Festival, and I regret I've never had the opportunity to see it again. This is a hard film to categorize. I've seen it called a "prison drama"; but I fear that will lead potential viewers to imagine a kind of action thriller where bitter rivals have it out with shanks...which this film definitely is not. One might be tempted to label this film "gay cinema," since it's about the intimate relationship between two prisoners; but that wouldn't be accurate, either, since neither character is gay. That's the whole point of this film: to show the kind of relationship that can develop between two heterosexual men who are forced by circumstances to seek from each other the intimacy they would normally seek from a woman. In a strange way, this film is a romance...though I fear that, too, gives the wrong impression, even if I emphasize "strange."

Not being a former inmate of "the big house" myself, my knowledge about sexual relationships in prisons comes from reading Stephen Donaldson, former president of the organization "Stop Prison Rape." This film is consistent with what Donaldson says about the relationships between "Daddys" and "catchers"--that is, between dominant men and the weaker prisoners with whom they pair up for sexual release (non-reciprocal) and a certain degree of emotional involvement. Judging from Donaldson's description, the Daddy/catcher relationship depicted in this film is unusually benevolent and sentimental. But it's clear that Rachel Ward has done her homework. This isn't some formulaic men-on-men fantasy. It's a realistic depiction of a kind of intimacy that those of us "outside the big house" are likely to have a hard time understanding. Ward wants us to understand it, and on the way she wants to problematize our thinking about sexual identity and masculinity. This isn't an Australian "Oz." It's a film with an academic agenda handled in a way that should make it accessible to a broad audience.

I think jcduffy below went a little over board on this movie. I think everyone on the outside of jail can understand the concept of men being behind bars for years at a time and no women. Of course they have intercourse with each other. This is not news. I think this reviewer is selling everyone a little short about their understanding of what goes on in the world.

This movie was a little short for me in that it really didn't explore these two guys relationship more. It showed how the older more experienced prisoner saved the younger one a few times from getting raped, but it really never explored their actual relationship - the film just thought everyone would understand and that no explanation would be necessary. Well, I would of loved to see the development of this relationship. I mean the scenes with the younger one teaching the older one how to read and the older one in-turn grabbing at the younger ones legs and d_ck, it was real and arousing - for about a minute. Then they would cut to some drinking party with the other prisoners and spoil everything we just saw. One of the best scenes I thought was the younger one at the sink washing something, I think it was his shoes, and he was buck naked and as he was scrubbing, his a$$ was jumping up and down and jiggling and then he ran to the bed and told the older guy - "Thank you for showing me the best of both worlds" and then you assumed you knew what was going to happen next - but then it faded black.

I enjoyed it..........then again it was only a short film. Way too short.

The basic virtue is the bitterness air. A simple story about a relation between two cellmates , about protection and about help, about photos and about ill. Poetic and precise, it is just one of that films reminding, in fair - wise manner, the essential truths in the most honest manner. A good film and ood acting. Ad very inspired end.

When an older man shows a younger what it takes to survive in prison, it's only fair that the younger pass along what he's learned when the older man's son comes to stay...

Not bad for a short film but with so many prison based drama's available today, this one falls a bit short in the new material area.