This uncompromising Norwegian drama is set on the island prison of Bastoy in the Oslo fjord and is based on a true story. The English title alludes to another story of escape from a more famous island prison but there is nothing heroic about Marius Holst's picture. This is a brutal and soul-destroying place and the film is bleakly and brilliantly filmed and very well played by its almost exclusively male cast, (Benjamin Helstad and Trond Nilssen are outstanding as two of the incarcerated boys as is Stellan Starsgard as the misguided governor). File it next to the likes of "Escape from Alcatraz" if you will but this is much more Bressonian than that.
Review of King of Devil's Island
