A Prisão

Bare Behind Bars (1980)

** (out of 4)

Extremely graphic WIP (women in prison) flick from Brazil has an evil, lesbian warden torturing, sexually assaulting, whipping, biting, attacking and doing just about anything imaginable to her female prisoners. Eventually the prisoners get tired of it and try to escape. This infamous WIP flick certainly has everything you could possibly imagine from non-stop lesbian sex to prison fights to several graphic violent scenes. This is one of the most outrageous WIP films I've seen but the direction is flat throughout and after the first hour things really start to get tiresome so the final thirty minutes really drag.

Well I've got to say that I do enjoy a good slice of sleaze; but I also like there to be some sort of narrative to keep my interest, and this film lacks that; which leaves it feeling rather shallow and pointless. As the title suggests, Bare Behind Bars is another one of those 'women in prison' films, and the fact that it hails from Brazil means that you can certainly count on gratuitous sex and nudity, which this film features in droves. There's all sorts of stuff going on, from lesbian sex to the use of dildo's and other implements, and everyone in the prison gets involved; from the prisoners to the guards and everyone in-between. The only slight hint of plot revolves around a prison break, which happens towards the end. There's a fair amount of violence to go with the sex and general sleaze, which includes certain male body parts being removed and, on one occasion, being fed to the family dog! However, while this film has everything you could want in terms of sleaze; the lack of any plot at all really does harm it. Obviously this is not a genre that is well known for great stories, but this film is shallow even by genre standards; and while I'm not an expert on sleazy women in prison flicks - Jess Franco has certainly done better.

This a Brazilian WIP film which means several things. First off, it's going to be more graphic than usual (actually crossing into hardcore in several places) if perhaps not quite as sick as some of the 1970's Jess Franco WIP films that were nominally set in South America. Second, while it does contain some reasonably attractive actresses, a lot of the others could be considered female "rough trade" (including a few that looked like they could been REAL prisoners). Third, it was obviously filmed in an actual Brazilian prison and, after the breakout, in actual Brazilian ghettos which gives it a squalid and depressing air (a ridiculous scene where all the prisoner take a VERY exuberant shower is actually kind of understandable--given the squalid conditions of the "set" the actresses probably really were that excited to get into a shower).

The main point of this movie is SEX--sex and more sex. Sex between the inmates, between the inmates and the warden or the prison nurse, solo sex scenes with the prisoners who are thrown into solitary confinement (buck naked, of course)--it's all here, one scene after another. And if you get tired of lesbian sex, after the traditional bust-out there's even more straight sex (you would think these woman would want to take a break from having sex, but no) with the kind of guys that make Ron Jeremy look trim and hairless. There's also a little unpleasantness like with one inmate in solitary who has befriended a dead rat (she doesn't have sex with at least), and another woman who suddenly makes like Lorena Bobbit after performing graphic oral sex on a very ugly guy.

What this movie really DOESN'T have though is a plot. Or real characters--I couldn't figure out WHO the protagonists are supposed to be. Like a hardcore porn film it is just a series of sex scenes thrown together with little or no connective tissue, and (speaking of tissue) while some of the women are attractive enough that I could certainly see some male viewers at home being motivated to "fire one off", I don't why even they would want to watch the rest of the movie. You really CAN have too much of a good thing sometimes, and this is a good example.

This is a South American women-in-prison (WIP) flick without the narrative drive or camp value of American WIP films (BIG DOLL HOUSE, CHAINED HEAT) of the fever-dream delirium of European WIP films (BARBED WIRE DOLLS, HELLHOLE WOMEN). All the exploitable elements are in place but the excitement is missing as this film is top-heavy (pun intended) with girl/girl sex scenes. The actress who plays the warden looks just like Lisa Kudrow.

My oh my, Oswaldo de Oliveira must have had the time of his life whilst filming this ultimately depraved and sleaze-laden Women In Prison classic. There are almost no men involved in this production and all the female stars – with the notable exception of the nasty lunch-lady – are stunningly ravishing wenches. Easily one of the most shameless and politically incorrect exploitation flicks ever made, "Bare Behind Bars" has absolutely no substantial content (or at least very few), but proudly offers wall-to-wall lesbian action, nudity and even some X-rated hardcore action. Welcome to the Brazilian all-girls exclusive "Prisão", where the inmates seemingly enjoy hiding sharp & pointy objects in their most intimate body parts, the wardens' uniforms only have buttons below the bosom-section, the dumb Marilyn Monroe resembling nurse has a very peculiar interpretation of the term health inspection and fake penis toys are referred to as the Seventh Wonder of the World. Life honestly isn't that bad in this film, as the girls are allowed to play sex games with each other as well as with the wardens and, occasionally, the prettiest ones are sold to rich lesbians for big money. Of course, eventually, a couple of courageous prisoners plan an escape, resulting in violence, torture and death. "Bare Behind Bars" is really the sleaziest and most rancid WIP-movie imaginable. I estimate that maximally five seconds is thee longest period without nudity in this film. There are many extended (and ridiculously overlong) shower sequences and pointless girl-on-girl fondling moments, but it's all shockingly boring & terribly UN-sexy. The last half hour is much more exciting and violent, but it's far too late to save the film unfortunately. As said, the women in this film (inmates as well as wardens, nurses and rich lesbian buyers) are quite beautiful, albeit speaking in terms of 70's exploitation. This means they're definitely not anorexic and their pubic regions are about half the size of the Amazon jungle. "B.B.B." is probably a must-see for all fans of the WIP sub genre, but it could and should have been much better. I very much prefer the Italian outings ("Women's Prison Massacre", "Women in Fury") that are perhaps slightly less sleazy, but feature more action, suspense and better actresses.