Kongen av Bastøy

'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.

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.

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

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.

Kongen av Bastøy is based on actual events happening on the Bastøy correctional facility for difficult boys, back in 1915. The Norwegian island Bastøy is located in the Oslo fjord, between Horten and Moss, about an hours drive south of Norway's capitol, what until 1919 was called Christiania before changing name back to original Oslo.

Marius Holst has made another good film about young boys coping with coming of age. This time he has gone to the core of coping with misplaced childhoods. Well acted, and very true to it's time frame, Kongen of Bastøy, is very believable story made with a 10 million dollar budget. Stellan Skarsgård, Kristoffer Joner, Benjamin Helstad and Trond Nilssen does the very best of method acting of their characters.

The story is both sore, dramatic and tragic, as well as true. It tries to both tell Norwegian history back when the country was poor, and when it was likely to be sent on a whaling ship, being a youngster from difficult background. So why is this film not a 10 out of 10. so many of these heart-wrenching stories easily make you get tears in your eyes.

Well, I'm afraid to say that this is a true story's dilemma. Making the best possible story come out in a film, you have to love of eel for the characters. The young boys on this facility is not the ones easy to love. They are brutal, uneducated, cheeky, unable to show affection and victims of a difficult past. Though Marius Holst tries to make us understand and feel affection for both the kids and the "wardens" in this boys home, I simply can't really start to like any of the characters.

Well acted, well written, but does director Holst really make us care? He has shown he know how to do this in the great story of "Cross my heart and hope to die", In Norwegian: "Ti kniver i hjertet" and "Mirsush" or "Blodsbånd", and succeeded well there. In Kongen av Bastøy which is a story of 10 years in progress, the trouble is that he had to face reality.

Telling a story on difficult boys, obviously has to show the boys how they are. And Marius Holst is no "tears-seeker". Neither is his leading actor in this. He obviously has felt this story has to be told. And as a historic manuscript on how one solved this cases of difficult boys back then, it functions very well. Just don't expect to really care. Maybe this makes the film even better. It should, but I'm afraid I still feel it lacks this. To really be able to touch a movie-goer, the fictional adding would have done the trick. making the film an even better story, but less true. That's the dilemma of telling a true story. If you want the story to be loved, you gotta add the elements of heart and soul, even if it would be untrue to the story told.

So for this cold bastard, I'm afraid this is just a good told story, and not a classic as I'd like it to be, and maybe also therefore not the possible box office hit it would have been, if made as a heart wrenching story.

Making a film like this loved, really need us to identify. This is the only true trouble with an otherwise great film.

Bastøy correctional facility was closed down in the fifties, when Norway was recovering from the 2nd World war. Now there's a prison out there. I'm sure a lot of kids was growing up hating Bastøy. Bastøy still have a negative sound for Norwegians, well deserved.