Gam yuk fung wan

This is a brutal portrayal of Hong Kong big-house life in Cantonese language. It concerns about a naive innocent(Tony Leung Ka Fair,The lover) who has been framed by accidental homicide and unjustly imprisoned behind bars. A mobster sets him up against other inmates and he's accused as informer. He becomes friend with a tough but sympathetic inmate(Chow Yun Fat,Better tomorrow) fighting Chinenes triads and against a cruel warden nicknamed scarface(Roy Cheung). The protagonists, each other, developing a fraternal friendship against their enemies and get involved with the unjust prison system commanded by nasties wardens.

The picture packs thriller, bloodshed, drama and lots of violence. Every prison clichés are exposed, including riots, fighting, abuse, evil security wardens, among others. The film contains a strong prison-drama in the wake of ¨Midnight express¨ with essentially the same argument but also displays touching images, such as the lyrical Christmas dance sequence and the emotive relationship between the two leading characters. This is the second and the best installment into ¨On fire ¨ trilogy , the first is titled ¨City on fire¨ and the third titled ¨ Prison on fire 2¨ where Ching again in prison troubled by an ongoing battle between local inmates and those from Mainland China. The trilogy is well directed by Ringo Lam. He's a nice Chinese director, filmmaker for Jackie Chan(Double dragon)and was hired in US for Jean Claude Van Damme vehicles(In hell, Replicant, Maximum risk), but nowadays he has returned Hong Kong for directing his usual Chop-Socky movies. Rating : Good and entertaining, the motion picture will like to Hong Kong movies enthusiastic and Chow Yun Fat fans.

Gaam Yuk Fung Wan/Prison on Fire(1987) is the second film in the On Fire Trilogy(excluding Prison on Fire 2). The first film, City on Fire(1987) dealt with a man who's trapped between duty with the police and loyality with the triad gang he's working undercover with. Prison on Fire(1987) is about a man sent to prison for manslaughter who slowly learns how to survive in prison with the help of a fellow inmate. A harrowing look into the prison system of Hong Kong. Makes Midnight Express(1977) look like a pleasent experience. Like City on Fire, this film shows a world of brutality where only the strongest and toughest survive. Chow Yun Fat is brilliant as the prisoner, Ching who takes the new guy under his wing.

The role of the new guy was originally offered to Danny Lee who turned the role down. Tony Leung Ka Fai was given the role of Lo Ka Yiu and did a wonderful job. The actor gives a sense of naive honesty in his performance. Lo Ka Yiu gets in trouble when he accuses one of the prisoners of stealing sissors. This put him under the wrath of the prisoner in glasses who sets him up as a rat. Roy Cheung is sadistic and dislikable as Officer "Scarface" Hung. His best roles are when he plays dislikable and dispictable characters like the arrogant Police officer in City on Fire(1987) or the Triad punk in School on Fire(1988).

Ringo Lam deals with many issues involving the prison system in Hong Kong. excellently scripted from the writer of Xia Dao Gao Fei/Full Contact(1987). Emotional involving film with an realistic fight scene during the climax. One thing I would like to know is the name of the song that's playing on the radio during the New Year Celebration. Officer "Scarface" Hung gets what was coming to him when Ching becomes deranged. One of the best acting by Chow Yun Fat comes in the climax when he goes insane. He plays this scene with an emotional wildness that hasn't been seen from him since.

...and soon enough, like any situation where the pressure does nothing but build, it'll explode.

Chow Yun-Fat plays Chung Tin Ching, a prisoner on a manslaughter charge, who befriends a harmless, naive twig of a man named Yiu, also on a manslaughter term. At first, he's a nuisance, but as he sees just how useless Yiu is in his situation, he can't help but step in when Yiu's blunders aggravates the wrong people. Friendship blossoms, and then the two of them must fend for themselves and each other against the cruel warden, Officer Hung, and Hung's obnoxious rat. The situation intensifies... it escalates... and when it finally explodes, it is intense, emotional, and effective.

I've seen six of Ringo Lam's films now, the other four being Prison on Fire II (right after I saw this one), City on Fire, Full Contact, and two of his Van Damme vehicles, and Prison on Fire is definitely the second-best film I've seen from him so far. It's nothing original, and the villains are a little cartoonish at times, but for the most part, it's a great movie, and definitely among the best of Chow and Lam.

Hong Kong film maker Ringo Lam has done many extraordinary films during his career. They include the extremely bleak and violent "School on Fire" (1988), "City on Fire" (1987), the incredible "Full Contact" (1992) and "Prison on Fire 1 and 2" from 1987 and 1991. "Prison on Fire" stars the then raising star Chow Yun-Fat as Ching, a positive and friendly inmate in a prison in which Lo Ka Yiu, played by Tony Leung Ka Fai is sentenced. They are both judged for a manslaughter and now they'll have to survive the violence and triad corruption inside the stone. What follows is a very intense 100 minutes and a film that won't be remembered among the least effective works of the great Lam.

The film is pretty close to "School on Fire" even though it is not as fierce and pessimistic as that film which was made one year later. "Prison" is pretty powerful and believable depiction of the state of prisons in Hong Kong and how much power the triad members have there. Where "School" depicts the horrible violence among school children and triads, "Prison" depicts violence and terror among convicts and triads, and how it all may end as horribly as in "School". But this time Ringo leaves a hope for a better tomorrow (as Chow's character even mentions at one point) and so the film is much more optimistic than the harrowing "School". Still the finale in the prison is very violent and shocking so the ride through the prison won't be an easy or pleasant one at all, and why would Ringo do such a pointless and light film that wouldn't have its message and anything to say in the first place? That is exactly why his films are much more than just action and gun battles.

The cast is very good in "Prison" and it includes Roy Cheung as the violent warden "Scarface" and Roy can also be found as a triad leader in "School" and a cop in "City on Fire." The characters, especially Chow's and Tony's, seem to develop little too fast as their dramatic decisions and actions are not as carefully explained and introduced as possible. I mean the scenes like "the suicide attempt" and the angry and almost comical face expression Chow gives to "Scarface" at one point; they show that these men really can act (and they can) but these kind of actions should be little more restrained and explained, but still Chow's character is here much better than in "City on Fire" which suffers a lot from the weak character of Chow's.

The ending in "Prison" is near the rage and mayhem of "School" and I felt really bad during the finale, so once again Ringo has shown his unique talent and power of his cinema. Chow turns into the kind of wild animal that is hiding inside every one of us, and that just should be kept there forever no matter what the situation is. That kind of finale is very powerful and leaves the audience pretty stunned and often in pure disgust, as in the case of "School". Overall the violence in "Prison" is very strong and hurts almost as much the viewer as it does the characters and that is the only way to depict this horrible thing honestly and in a way that something important can be achieved and told by the film. I'm afraid the present day Hollywood wouldn't dare to do films like this, but fortunately there are alternatives and people who want to make films not just because of money.

"Prison" is composed by Lowell Lo, who has also made the soundtrack for films like "Naked Killer" (Clarence Fok, 1992), "The Killer" (John Woo, 1989) and Ringo's "School on Fire" but the usage of music is never as near as strong in "Prison" as it is in "School" and that is also among the elements that make "School" such a strong experience. "Prison" has also some very atmospheric photography inside the prison and there are some nice neon lights and almost mysterious lights coming through the windows at some points. There's also some very bright photography in the interiors and that creates almost a dream like feel to the film, and also depicts the state of mind of the inmates and how things vary from pure danger and alarm to peace and quiet inside the prison.

"Prison" is among the reasons why Hong Kong cinema is so powerful and unique and it is also among the reasons that make Ringo among the most talented directors in the field. His real masterpiece was still to come (Full Contact) but still "Prison" is among the most noteworthy achievements of his. 8/10

The plot is concise, the rhythm is clear, tell the story well. It's much better than many movies nowadays.