Trois saisons en enfer

This truly crappy women-in-prison flick looks like a leftover from the 1970s. Like so many of that genre, it was shot in the Philippines. One difference; instead of a totally no-name cast, it has Tanya Roberts, the erstwhile Charlie's Angel. Hold your Oscar nominations, please.

Though none exists, this movie could easily be subtitled, "Carly and Melanie Go to Africa and Get Gang Raped." That's pretty much the size of it. Sadly, poor Melanie drops out in the first twenty minutes, so that leaves Carly ( Roberts ) to fend for herself against a bunch of really yucky people. They're yucky, she's plucky. The outcome is predictable.

Lots of people get killed along the way, not that anyone really cares. The biggest question remains: What is John Newland doing in this dreck? Yes, that's right; the same John Newland who hosted the Sci-Fi TV classic from the 1950s, "One Step Beyond". He's dead now, so it's impossible to ask him. One can only imagine that his last wish was to have his name deleted from the credits. That appears to have been granted.

Starting off this *is* the writing of an oft-favoured 1980's B-grade fan, so I am in no way writing this to compete with previous reviewers or take some imagined review 'injustice' into my own hands.

I appreciate the plot line as a particularly classic one and with its means to expand on whatever drama or storyline unfolds the end result is what you get. Its the whole 'put in an overseas jail' thing. Yes, 'purgatory'. So my comments are really relative to people who like me who enjoy a little cheesiness. No you wouldn't see Meryl Streep in a movie like this one and thats what gives its character.

Take bits and pieces from the movie. For me they are dazzling scenes occurring by the minute. No matter what they say it all seems to wind up funny to me. No matter what the musical soundtrack is, it always manages to impress vintage cheese upon me. I am about to write up some quotes so check them out. Thy might give you an idea of what you're in for.

Yes. The 80's were this bad. Awesome

Despite the initial set-up (2 American girls in a foreign - here African - country get arrested and sentenced to 11 years in jail for a crime they didn't commit), "Purgatory" is not really a Women-In-Prison film. It almost completely ignores the daily prison life of the women and focuses on one aspect only: their sexual exploitation. The warden has set up a prostitution ring and the prisoners are used to satisfy the needs of many high-paying customers. After 75 minutes of this repellent junk, we finally get to the escape part. "Purgatory" supposedly has serious intentions: there are even title cards telling us what date it is, and at the end another card telling us what happened to the surviving characters, as if this was based on a true story, even though at the end of the credits there is the usual "any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental" disclaimer. But it is technically rough, even amateurish at times, and although Tanya Roberts deserves credit for taking on a role that has her appear completely unglamorous, she's still too limited an actress to carry a movie by herself. (*)

Pick almost any "Women In Prison" movie where some young lovelies are unjustly thrown behind bars and then abused by the warden, the guards, the other prisoners....That's this movie. Still, it has a young, lovely and long-legged Tanya Roberts as one of the hapless prisoners. There's a little bit of nudity here and there, and a lot of explosions at the end. You've seen it before.

The old and crummy VHS-copy I own of "Purgatory" makes it look as if it's a typically raunchy and sexist women-in-prison exploitation movie, like the used to make them during the 70s and early 80s, but this one has slightly more to offer. In fact, I daresay that if "Purgatory" (1) had been based on a true story, (2) starred an actress like Angelina Jolie, and (3) was directed by an acclaimed name like Roland Joffé, this film easily might have won an Oscar. I'm serious.

Does that mean "Purgatory" is an underrated hidden gem? Unfortunately not, it could and should have been much better, but at least it has a captivating story to tell, and there's enough drama and misfortune to last a lifetime. By picking up the wrong type of hitchhiker when they drive to the airport in a fictional African country, two female Peace Corps volunteers are accused of drug-trafficking. What follows is an incredible series of disastrous and downright rotten breaks. The DEA agents don't believe their story, the arrogant US ambassador refuses to help, the corrupt judge accept a $10,000 bribery but still sentences them to 11 years of prison, and the penitentiary - aptly named Purgatory - is a lawless slammer where the head warden rents out the prettiest girls as prostitutes. The whole country is so corrupt that every honest procedure lasts months, and whenever a good Samaritan tries to help, he/she ends up brutally assassinated. Start a riot and attempt to escape seems the only way out for the poor and desperate Carly, but her spirit has - understandably - weakened.

I love Tanya Roberts. Not only because she's unearthly beautiful, but she's normally also a good actress. She doesn't exactly demonstrate this in "Purgatory", however. Her dramatic over-acting is too obviously fake, and even after spending several months in this hellhole of a prison, her hair and skin still look perfectly silky. Director Ami Artzi does manage to create a strong and compelling atmosphere of despair, and you do feel genuine empathy and pity for Carly and her allies. The abuse and torture sequences are quite dull, but they remain decent, and the last 15-20 minutes are action-packed and full of (badly executed) building fires and explosions. Difficult film to rate, this "Purgatory", but don't want to flunk it (like most other reviewers obviously did).