A Ilha - Uma Prisão sem Grades

I'm all for some tough love, and military boot camps where kids are taught discipline,,, but the kinda place portrayed in this movie is just torture,, with psychotic administrators.

As someone who was in places similar to what this movie portrays, it was an excellent film. It did an excellent job of showing how places like that are run. How people can be staff members and think they are really doing good. How easily kids can turn on one another if given the slightest idea of freedom. And the fact the director of the place was just as twisted as the idea of the camp.. It all still makes me sick. The film absolutely hit home a lot of times. I thought they did an excellent job showing this. They may not have showed all that happens at these places, but they showed what needed to be showed and I am glad to know people are a little more knowledgeable now that they have seen this film.

A little thrown off by the "excessiveness" in the beginning of this film I was pleased to see the pace quickly changed into an intriguingly heart wrenching and fist clenching experience. Pulling no punches in exposing the cruelty that exists in these rehabilitation centers you frequently find yourself a little uneasy with this films content (especially upon remembering that this was based on true events). A lot of content is crammed into this sole title as the story is a melting pot of drama, action, and even a relatively strong love story. Not a dull moment is to be found within this running time. The visuals compliment the story well with a beautiful setting and equally stunning cast.

For those of you that think programs like this don't exist, you are very wrong! I spent 10 months in Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, which was actually very nice compared to other programs that are, like Spring Creek, affiliated with WWASP (World Wide Association of Specialty Programs). Look it up!! There are so many documented abuses in their facilities outside of the U.S. (Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, Somoa). Most of them have been shut down, but they are still out there!! When I was at Spring Creek in Montana, there was an incident at Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica....very similar to what happens in this movie. The kids rioted and took the place over, setting fires and having sex. A lot of them ran off into the wilderness. Most were located and sent to other programs like mine in Montana. Also, look into the High Impact program that was shut down in Tecate, Mexico. This stuff does exist, and it's devastating! And good parents are deceived every day by their very false advertising! And they do come and kidnap you in the night, just like in the film.....messed up stuff.

Movies like these don't come around very often. Know I am not saying this movie was incredible because it wasn't. But it is the kinda movie that makes you think about tragedy's that happen in this life.

Basically the plot is easy to follow and easily drags you in. Norman Hail ( Peter Stormare ) runs a camp where parents send there kids to him and he tries to steer them straight. You could tell that this wasn't going to be a normal camp for kids. He uses humiliation as a form of torture. I Mainly loved the movie because of the two main characters Mila Kunis and Gregory Smith. Most torture movies the whole plot is everyone is trying to get out of the place where they are being tortured which is why I loved the movie because that wasn't the case for most of the characters. A lot of the characters were starting to believe in Norman Hails brainwashing method.

There was no ridiculous stupid sex scenes so don't watch it if that's what you are looking for, it was the one of the most realistic psychological torture stories I have probably watched and that says a lot because I have seen tons of movies.

If you are looking for a movie that makes you think about about sadistic stuff that happens in real life then watch this movie. I give it a 6.5 / 10