Kongen av Bastøy

Heart rendering true story about an uprising at a notorious correctional facility for juveniles on a Norwegian island. When a new prisoner arrives Erling (Ben Helstand), his unrelenting passion to escape, prevail against repression, and rebel against authority figures immediately puts him in hot water. The young men in this facility must endure horrendous conditions, as well as physical and mental abuse daily. Eriling's unflinching bravery eventually and collectively inspires and galvanizes these young men together in their life altering uprising against oppression.

At first, the young men are unnamed (assigned numbers), completely alone, and without much hope for the future. However, Eriling's tenacious spirit leads to uniting broken spirits, establishing relationships, and not to be afraid to follow your dreams. The cinematography and barren landscape perfectly captures and enhances the cold- hearted spirit of the corrections facility, and the people who run it. The metaphor that is used throughout the film, and the evolving story of the "harpooner" is just perfect. Never falls victim to cheap melodrama; inspirational and touching. Impressive achievement by director Marius Hoist. Both performances by Stellan Skarsgard and Benjamin Heistad are simply marvelous.

'The King of Devil's Island' tells a familiar story of the abuse of authority, in it's portrayal of the life in a tough boys' prison in early 20th century Norway. More unusually, there's no story of tyranny among the inmates themselves, and moreover, the staff are quietly evil: the child abuser, and the governor who turns a blind eye while simultaneously believing that his regime is morally improving. Indeed, for a story of harshness and death, the film could be considered understated, except for the powerful melodrama of its climax, which is well-earned by the lower key, but convincing, material that proceeds it. And like other Scandanavian movies, it gains power through the sheer fact of the climate: when folly could mean freezing to death, there's an underlying seriousness absent in more clement environments.

In the U.S., Alcatraz used to serve as a prison known to the inmates as "The Rock," a place where criminals were sent in a boat, the island from which few had ever been known to escape. In Norway, until 1957, criminal children, even those committing relatively minor crimes were sent to an Island Prison on the island of Batsoy, another dismal isolation from which there was supposedly no escape. "The King of Devil's Island" as another young man arrives after committing a murder, consigned to the prison's special diet of silence and discipline, work amid dismally spartan conditions. The new inmate, after the usual give and take with more dominant prisoners, most of them young teens, manages to find himself a friend, sharing his plan to be the first to attempt a getaway.

Animosity between the inmates and those in charge, one of them an unregenerate pedophile and another taking money that should go to the welfare of the prisoners, develops quickly, and a steady intensity is constantly building--not with the buckets of profanity that pepper an American prison film, but a series of darker, psychological twists evolving from our knowledge of many of the young men involved.

Although in color, the atmosphere is dark, the skies seldom blue, the woods dark, the walks snowy: it is a moody film, but never lets the tension loosen much. I found it gripping and intense, building to a smashing final scene: not necessarily conclusive, but totally satisfying. The acting is universally excellent, the underlying music score appropriate without being intrusive. This well-made film was fully worthy of my time.

King of Devil's Island (2010)

A very straight forward, hard hitting, well acted account based on a true story of a boy's penal colony on a Norwegian Island early in the 20th Century.

That says it all. It is what it is, and there is the almost inevitable rebel and leader among the boys against the sometimes evil, sometimes indifferent adults who rule the group with false benevolence. You know who is right and who is wrong, and you follow the plot with a mixture of expectation and outrage. It's dramatic great stuff. Yes, been there and seen that somehow before, but it's severe and beautiful in its setting and intense and provocative within.

It might be interesting to compare this to more famous prison movies (the dubious "Shawshank" and earlier classics like "Birdman from Alcatraz") to realize how much this one is holding to a line of truth. As much as the events are extreme (eventually), the filmmaking is filled with restraint. Compare further to a movie like "Shutter Island" and you know that this one is practically a grey, subdued documentary.

And this is to its advantage. It's not a mind-blowing experience in cinema terms--it's just a really well done, focused, sensitive telling of a forgotten story of repression and survival and maybe, in the end, the every lifting human spirit.

KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND (Kongen av Bastøy) is an experience more than a film. It dares to take the viewer where all is black and white, emotionally and visually, and while the film is shot in color, the only moment of color in this dark, atmospherically eerie snow bound island boys prison is the occasional blood and fire that creates even more of an impact because of the bleak screen that serves as background for the story. Based on a true story by Mette M. Bølstad and Lars Saabye Christensen and adapted for the screen by Dennis Magnusson and Eric Schmid, the fine cast is directed by Marius Holst.

In 1915 on the island Bastøy, located in the Oslo fjord, live a group of delinquent, young boys aged 11 to 18 in the Bastøy Boys Reform School. The boys daily, sadistic regime is run by the guards and Governor Bestyreren (Stellan Skarsgård) who is stern but seemingly fair in his management of the reform school (his wife lives with him in an opulent manner). But the Housemaster, a smarmy pedophile names Master Bråthen (Kristoffer Joner), is cruel and malicious and bestows both mental and physical abuse on the boys: the boys are used for cheap manual labor rather than being schooled and 'corrected' to return to society. The boys attempt to survive by adapting to their inhumane conditions. One day a new 17 year old boy, Erling who is assigned the 'name' C19 (Benjamin Helstad), arrives with his own agenda: how to escape from the island. How far is he willing to go in order to get his freedom? There is a stalwart lad Ivar/C5 (Magnus Langlete) who is due for release and a rather frail lad Olav/C1 (Trond Nilssen) who falls victim to the Master: these lads are C19's colleagues. After a tragic incident takes place, Erling ends up forced into the destinies of the other boys by leading them into a violent uprising. Once the boys manage to take over Bastøy 150 government soldiers are sent in to restore order. How he maneuvers the escape fantasy brings a surprising ending to the story.

The acting is first rate from a fine group of young actors. The cinematography is by John Andreas Andersen and the haunting musical score is by Johan Söderqvist. In Norwegian with English subtitles. A moody, deeply moving work. Grady Harp, February 12