R

Rune Pedersen is a new inmate in a tough Danish prison serving a two-year sentence. He's threatened by the brutal inmates and the harsh guards. He becomes the lowest member of the white gang. He works out a way to smuggle into the prison with the help of Muslim Rashid. He starts to get more luxury from his gang. Then he gets squeezed by the ruthless Bazhir.

It's another tough prison movie of drugs, brutality, and racial division from Europe. It is heartless, ugly, and relentless. There is a change in protagonist from Rune to Rashid in the last act. It's a place where brutality works and the monsters rule.

Happiest citizens in the world live in Denmark... I guess they forgot to interview those in the prison system!

Tormented souls, violence and prove of "masculinity", bullying, corruption, drugs... everything wrong is here... and two men stand out for a short time: Rune and Rashid! Trying to survive in an environment where death is a daily possibility.

Rough world depicted by masters Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer, who wrote and co-directed this film!

Prison movies are hard to make. Though the good ones seem effortlessly. And while you can file most of them as dramas (like this one), they almost feel like a sub-genre. Pacing is always key, which this movie proves can handle very well. It's not fancy, but what prison actually is, it's more down and dirty.

The relationships explored make sense in this. And while we may not get all the answers from this movie, the characters are mysterious enough, but also engaging enough for us to care. And that's quite a feat for a movie about criminals and their just (?) punishment. Arguing if prison is the best solution for some or if it works as a whole is a completely different matter.

I liked this movie, but it made me reflect on how crazy and wrong the prison system is, even in a place like Denmark. I know many disgree, but I think that prison should be somewhere you go to become a better person, to find back to who you really are. Not a place to hae your soul tormented and your spirit crushed. This movie manages to show a world where you either do what it takes to survive, or you are destroyed. Some times you do what it takes, but you are unlucky or someone tells a secret to the wrong person, and you are still destroyed. In between all the violent "masculinity" and bullying, there are moments of humanity, like the friendship between Rune and Rashid and the seeming care the men have for a couple of birds. I liked the fact that we don't get to know too much about how Rune ended up in prison. He could be any regular guy, and that is the whole point.

This film is compared to un prophete, i understand why, but is is right to do that. I saw both movies on the same day at the international film festival in Rotterdam and R Rocked me and the audience really out of our chair. In fact it was the first movie where during the Q and A with the director nobody left the space. The reason i don't want to compare both movies is also that because i saw them on the same day. After this stunning, violent roller-coaster watching the long une prophete is not easy and won't be honoust towards une prophete.. But nevertheless this film took me fully, with amateurs and old inmates in roles, it is breathtaking, raw, dark and intense. Nothing is too much, nothing is too long, nothing is to thin, its a fantastic movie who deserves a big audience. For those who are interested in the rates i gave to Une Prophete, it's an 8, but i still want to see both movies again, but not on the same day anymore. What a ride it was and thank you for producing this masterpiece, which is in my all time top 10 whatever other people think of it