Il ribelle - Starred Up

Jack O'Connell is brilliant as our uncompromising lead. The writing is terrific and the acting from all involved is great.

The prison sub-genre has produced many great films over the years, giving us the likes of The Shawshank Redemption, Hunger and Escape from Alcatraz. The critically acclaimed British movie Starred Up from Perfect Sense director David Mackenzie hopes to join their ranks.

Eric Love (Jack O'Connell) is a 19-year-old sent to adult prison two years early because he is known as 'starred up', a very violent offender. On his first day in prison, Eric manages to make a weapon, knocks out a fellow prisoner which causes a lock-down and fights the prison guards leading to him biting one of them in the testicles. Despite his violent behaviour, a prison volunteer, Oliver (Rupert Friend) offers to have Eric in his anger management group and help him change his behaviour. Nev (Ben Mendelsohn), Eric's father and fellow prisoner is forced to try and take his son under his wing, partly to protect him being killed by the crime boss of the prison, Spencer (Peter Ferdinando), because lock-downs disrupt business. But as Eric starts to manage his anger, he finds mentors from other prisoners, putting his father out of place as he tries to be the man he is meant to be.

Starred Up is a harsh look at the British prison system and tells an unconventional father and son relationship. Mackenzie uses hand-held cinematography, using sequences that are long takes and gives Starred Up a fly-on-the-wall feel, whether it was following Eric in the prison or simply watching Eric grow in the group sessions and control his anger. Mackenzie shows the violence as prisoners fight, stab and make weapons. He gives us some strong fighting sequences, such as Eric's first fight and a fight in a shower. There are plenty of elements that would remind people of other prison movies like Scum, A Prophet and Bronson, sharing visual cues when the camera follows Eric, makes his weapon and how he prepares for fights.

At times, Starred Up plays a little like a British version of the excellent HBO show Oz, taking a look at various factions in the prison. There are various criminal forces with their own angles, the personal vendettas between the prisoners and internal politics between prisoners and within the prison staff. There are debates within the prison staff, as they decide what is the best course with dealing with Eric. Oliver is made out to be a hopeful man who actually wants to reform prisoners, give them hope and elaborates on what is the point of prison, rehabilitation or punishment? This is an issue that has been debated in Britain since the end of the 18th century.

A key part of Starred Up is the relationship between Eric and Nev, both excellently played by O'Connell and Mendelsohn as they learn to actually become father and son. Nev has only one setting when dealing with Eric, aggression and shouting, believing he needs to be tough with Eric to get the message across. Yet, Nev states that Eric has a chance of getting released from prison and should play the system, just so he can get out. In prison, Eric finds other mentors in the form of Oliver and two other prisoners, Tyrone (David Ajala) and Hassan (Anthony Welsh) who wishes to usurp Nev's role.

Eric gets glimpses at what could be his future could be because of the different prisoners he is with. He could end up like his father, a violent lifer, a leading crime lord in prison or be like Tyrone (David Ajala) and Hassan (Anthony Welsh) and actually turn his life around.

Starred Up is a very macho film, filled with fighting, violence, male posturing and liberal uses of the f and c words as Mackenzie shows this very brutal, violent world. The only prominent female character is one of the Governors played by Sian Breckin and she is only a small role who appears in a few scenes. The female prison guards that appear in the movie are really speaking extras.

Mackenzie has shown himself to be a director who can get strong performances from his actors, such in his previous movie Perfect Sense. He again provides a strong work, through his hiring of a strong cast of respected actors. O'Connell gives a deliberately ambiguous performance as he is hard to read: he is a character that is anti-authority and willing to use his fists: but has some morals and ethics even in prison. Friend is very good in his role as Oliver, but he is made out to be a very nervous and timid character and even though he is a good natured character those traits for someone working with violent offenders.

Starred Up keeps to a British tradition of violent, kitchen sink realism, while the writer Jonathan Asser wants to tell a personal story. It is a brutal movie that makes sure that prison is a terrifying environment and fans of Scum and Oz should enjoy Starred Up.

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Firstly, this is not an uplifting or feel good film, nor was it ever intended to be. If you like your film gritty and pulsatingly realistic, you'd be going back years to find a film that stands up to this.

From the outset, it is clear our young protagonist is fighting not just for survival within a hardened prison wing, but also demons that reside within. Hope is offered in the shape of a freelancing counsellor, which is initially met with disdain during a group meeting. The film then continues to show(graphically), the complex arrangements within the prison walls, and how relationships can often start badly, but develop into a more meaningful co-existence ad friendship because of it.

The usual bad prison warden is on offer too, but is done so delectably well. The anger the viewer feels at certain points in this film is palpable from the sheer heartlessness of the authorities. Prisoner's are not viewed with any great sense of humanity, dependant on stature within the the Prison of course. The unfairness of it all had me wanting to wring the neck of certain characters, all due to the powerlessness of the our protagonists position.

Does the young charger hold back? Never. Like a bull ramming it's horns against an immovable wall, he keeps the pressure on inmates and authorities alike. It's a ferocious watch, and superbly realised by Jack O'Connell playing Eric, a star in the making for certain.

Terrific acting, superb directing, eye-watering set pieces and an emotive experience of life on the inside. Simply does not get better. 10/10

STARRED UP is another modern-day prison flick, this time a British one. Before everybody starts groaning and thinking "what, again?!", let me reassure you that this one's not sugar-coated at all. There's no sentiment here, just brutality throughout, and yet it becomes an immersive and thought-provoking experience. Even with all the violence and bad language and animalistic behaviour, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.

The film features Jack O'Connell ('71) in a star-making performance as a disturbed young man who has just been transferred (aka starred up) to men's prison from juvenile. To complicate things further, his own father is an inmate, and the two have a volatile relationship. I've seen the Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn before in a few Hollywood flicks and didn't think much of him, but he's a perfect fit for the part here.

A lot of the usual prison clichés are played out here, but they happen in a matter-of-fact and dare I say it grimly realistic way. The violence is brutal but not overdone, and it does serve a purpose rather than being gratuitous. And the realism is top-notch, reminding me of the BRONSON film at times. Despite all this writer Jonathan Asser manages to tell a believable storyline with an identifiable beginning, middle, and end. It's a good little film, although not for all tastes given the subject matter.

For a film that seemed to come out of nowhere, with a limited advertisement campaign and small budget, Starred Up has proved to be one of the more ballsy pictures released in some time - and with a UK release date sandwiched between two major blockbuster sequels, it had to do something to stand out from the crowd.

The main attribute of the film is its acting, most notably central character Jack O'Connell; a career-best performance from our lead protagonist serves as the driving force of the film, immersing the audience so much in the drama of it all that we can't believe we're feeling sorry for the prick we thought we knew in the opening stages.

However we all know that good acting doesn't necessarily constitute a good film; but placing such talent in the hands of David Mackenzie and providing a gripping (albeit unoriginal) story line is a damn good combination.

Despite the many positives, where this film fails is in the variety of on-screen shenanigans. Although it does slowly progress, the day-to-day life on the inside seems repetitive and predictable, particularly when the overall message is all too familiar and practically clichéd.

All in all however, Starred Up is one of the best prison dramas in a long time, and probably the best British film this year. Not for the faint-hearted, this superbly acted drama will scare you into following the law to the strictest command.