A Prisão

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.

This has been called the "Mother of all WIP" flicks. In a sense I can see why. It has all the essential ingredients of the genre- in abundance if not excess.

Wall to wall nudity (indeed being nude is the default dress code), shower scenes, some (tame) torture, lesbianism (indeed no men really), and a so-called moral ending.

Trouble is that it is so atrociously compiled by De Oliveira, the director, that all sense of the erotic is lost. Jess Franco so much does it better. The scenes flit from one to the next with little or no continuity of plot, sexual encounters are chucked in for no good reason, plot lines start and then run into the sand.....Well- whatever.. And the women are not that cute either.

So sadly this flick flatters to deceive. You will probably watch it given its reputation- and emerge mildly disappointed like the rest of us. Brazil creates better football than WIP thrills..

Bare is one of those definitive 80's Brazillian prison movies that really makes you squirm to watch it. The movie revolves around a crooked prison run b y the equally crooked Sylvia,and her straight counterpart,Sandra,who works to put an end to the trachery. An incompetent and sex-crazed nurse stirs the plot,what littl there is of it. Overall,the movie is just sex all around and eventually leads to a great breakout into the streets of Brazil,where the refugee women continue their lives of violence by raping a young boy,killing his parents,and committing numerous sexual murders throughout the city. A young woman who is beat with a whip by Sylvia(Towanda Neal)adds to the dark and twisted plot.Generally,this film was hard to watch and is full to the brim with graphic nudity and sex. All hardcore sex film fans will love this one! Happy viewing!

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.