Comments on the Movie 'Starred Up'

Thursday afternoon we went to the Walter Reade Theater of the Film Society of Lincoln Center to see 'Starred Up', a movie directed by David Mackenzie and written by Jonathan Asser.  It's is based on Asser's experiences as a volunteer therapist working with some of Britain's most violent criminals.  It was filmed in two former British prisons.

Official poster for 'Starred Up'

The term 'starred up' is used in Britain to describe juvenile offenders who are placed in adult prisons because of they are too violent for the juvenile detention system.  Eric Love (played by Jack O'Connell) is a 'starred up' 19-year-old who we see being transferred to the adult prison where the rest of the action occurs.  The prison is so loosely run and the dialects of the inmates and prison staff are so difficult to understand that much of the movie unfolds in a befuddling haze (kind of like watching a foreign film without subtitles).  Neville Love (Ben Mendelsohn) is an older inmate apparently higher up on the prisoner food chain and (according to the reviews) Eric's father.  Neville arranges for Eric to go to anger management meetings run by Oliver Baumer (Rupert Friend) -- the Asser surrogate.  There are four or five black inmates in the group when Eric joins.  It seems like the prison warden and her staff are looking for an excuse to either shut down Oliver's program or put Eric in solitary confinement -- probably both.  Things happen.  Dialogue is mumbled and occasionally spoken.  Prisoners mill around (pretty freely for a prison).  People get punched and stabbed and hosed and handcuffed.

It all ends when Neville is transferred out to another prison, leaving Eric to fend for himself.  The beginning and ending are clear.  Everything else is a muddle of violence and mumbling.  The movie has won a few British awards and got decent American reviews, but I'm not recommending it.