Fortress

I loved watching this movie growing up as a kid, and every time I watched it I was freaked out yet I couldn't get enough of it. I knew the movie was based on a true story, and the country school setting reminded me of a place where I used to go camping. I haven't seen it in years but remember the whole movie back to front.

Set in a small country town, a class of students comprising the entire school and their teacher are kidnapped. The kidnappers wear masks that the viewer will remember forever. The teacher and kids are left to try and plan an escape from their captors.

Hardly anyone in the world is going to see this movie, and they are all missing out. See if you can find it, it's pretty good.

This movie stays with you. I think about it at least a couple times a year, every year for the last 17. It really makes you think "how would I react under similar circumstances?" The performances by the kids are great as is that by the teacher. But the best scene of all is the way they close the movie - it's very dis-"heartening".

I remember watching this movie every Saturday on TV why my mom cleaned the house. I remember it freaking me out. I love this movie. I was probably 8 at the time. I was talking to people randomly about the movie and people thought I was crazy because no one remembered it. My sister didn't even remember it. Finally two years ago a girl that I worked with was like yeah I know the movie you are talking about. However we didn't know the name of the film. It took me 15 years and a NICE NICE guy from Austrialia (that I meet on in a chat room) to help me find the name of the movie. I also want to say thanks to Amazon.com for being fantastic. I love this movie...I recommend it to anyone. Rachel Ward gives a Fantastic performance as well. Plus this movie is based on a true story.

I am so happy that Google exists, because after 15 YEARS of fruitless searching (including on IMDb, sorry!) I've found this movie again. Images like the swim through the underground cavern and the older couple (?) being horrified by the rabbit masked man have haunted me to the point I thought I had imagined the whole thing. The fairly low-fi quality of the film makes it all the scarier, classic HBO 80's fodder. The fact that I watched it as a pre-teen made the fight for survival of the woman and the children all the more real. The setting of the Outback made their situation seem really perilous, for if there is so much open, empty space around you, it seems you have fewer places to hide (and I think may have sparked my latent fear of kidnapping and lack of hiding places). Excellent (as it stuck in my mind all these years, I guess it had to!)

In the countryside of Australia, the schoolteacher Sally Jones (Rachel Ward) and her nine pupils are kidnapped by four violent men wearing masks. They are locked up in a cave, but Sally finds a way to escape underwater a lake. However, they are hunted down by the criminals and Sally is forced to organize a defense with the support of the students.

"Fortress" is an Australian thriller with Rachel Ward in the lead role of a teacher kidnapped with her students at school by criminals. The plot is simple, engaging and full to action. The children are amazing and have nice performances. The conclusion recalls "Lord of the Flies", when the innocent children need to fight for their lives. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Fortaleza" ("The Fortress")