The Big House

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.

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!

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.

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.

Winner of the 2001 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Short Fiction Film, this brief but powerful drama about prison sex and intimacy is well worth a view. Homoerotic without being pornographic, touching but not sentimental, it shows the love that unexpectedly develops between a young prison inmate and an older "lifer."

Many people will no doubt be turned off by the idea of a physical relationship between the two, but I was impressed that such a short film (24 minutes) could believably convey a sense of a bartered relationship between two nominally heterosexual men, a pairing that begins as bleak exploitation and turns into something more. That the film captures their tender feelings while still keeping a strong eye on the dangers and sordidness of their imprisonment, with moments of humor and terror to boot, is a tribute to a good script, fine directing (by Rachel Ward, to my surprise) and to the equally fine acting, especially the terrific performance by Tony Martin as the older con.

For the record, American viewers may have occasional trouble deciphering the dialogue, as the "down-under" accents are a bit thick at times.