Dog Pound

This movie hit home for me because I was once locked up in a juvenile detention facility. The only thing I disagree with in this movie is the guards were not violent enough but the setting is the same if not worse on how you get treated by the people around you. For all the people who said this was a "Bad movie" "had no plot" you have never lived it so you would not have the first clue what this movie was attempting to convey with its ending and storyline. The psychology is nearly the same and it does not matter how you go in, your environment changes and with it you must change yourself. You may have heard the term "debt dog" but I doubt it. This movie hits as close as your going to probably get without someones story like mine.

A movie like "Dog Pound" has a lot of peers. Year after year of prison films (a dozen or two I've seen for myself) have honed a pretty basic cinematic structure. This film is about half-successful in avoiding the clichés. It does have one thing going for it - being the most recent to give a pretty much realistic account of the juvenile detention system. The pace of the story provides somewhat of the needed adrenaline charge for the thriller format, but it doesn't go nearly as far as it should. The soundtrack, for one, is a good example of this. It's virtually never needed, always intrusive. The acting is pretty much as expected. Given intense situations, the actors offer better performances than if asked to emote in a normal environment. And, if not necessarily better, at least more intense.

Kim Chapiron provides some interesting direction. Clean photography, 70s style use of zooms. It doesn't always work, but it keeps things interesting. The end result is a film that gives you enough to stay involved, if not quite enough to push it over into something you'd want to see again. Good enough.

A mean prison thriller that goes for the jugular throughout, the Canadian film DOG POUND is in actual fact a remake of the British borstal classic SCUM from 1979. While it's not as powerful or harrowing as that film, nevertheless it packs a punch in its harsh depiction of bullying and brutality within prison confines.

The prison in this film is a juvenile one and the movie is populated by new and unfamiliar faces, but don't let that put you off, because DOG POUND turns out to be a highly effective movie in its own right. The acting is up and down and probably the weakest part of the production, but that matters not when the direction is strong and the writing compelling.

DOG POUND is a slow paced film for the most part and yet it's alive with simmering tension as character relationships develop and things move towards some scenes of violence which are devastating in their depiction. Some of the sub-plots are distinctly underwhelming (with the fate of one particular character not a patch on his counterpart in SCUM) but others hit home with precision force, making this a film I really got into.

Dog Pound had a huge effect on me unlike most films that have come out in the past couple months. You start to really feel for the characters and their issues also everything during the movie goes along smoothly. Every actor worked their role correctly and, in my opinion, perfectly. If people just truly gave a couple seconds to be down to earth with these juniors, just for once put yourself in their own positions, many of the problems in this film could of had a much better outcome. Great story, great action, and just overall a good watch. This is a must see for everyone who has the stomach and the mind set. These actions are actually happening today and needs to be solved.. but sadly I may not see it in my years.

And considering it's a dog pound ... Seriously though: The movie is one of the best ones I have seen in a while, that contains people being locked-up (or in). I have to admit, that I have not seen "Scum" yet, which this movie is based on (or a Remake according to IMDb), but after seeing this, I have to go out and rent that one.

The characters on display here might feel a bit too distant and not everyone will be able to find a character he can entirely sympathize with, but that's what made it so intriguing to me. It's not showing a rose-tinted world. And it is not afraid to go ways, that other movies might have been. It's raw and sometimes feels like a documentary (though it obviously isn't).

Very good acting and a story that flows from start to finish, with no (visible) flaw in the storytelling. Highly recommended