Review of Stoic (2009) by Al M — 17 Apr 2012

Four Stars: Alongside Seed, Stoic ranks as a surprisingly solid film by otherwise retched filmmaker Uwe Boll. The film opens with an inmate being discovered hanging in his cell and then proceeds as a series of flashbacks instigated by the interrogations of his cellmates, who ended up playing more than minor role in his death.

While Stoic mainly uses the supposedly true story for exploitative purposes, it still manages to somewhat provocatively explore the effect of incarceration upon the ethics and identity of convicts. In particular, Stoic explores how ethical judgment disappears in the face of peer pressure and how environment affects ethical decision-making.

Brutalizing, tough-to-watch, and somewhat provocative, Stoic does not quite achieve the level of sophistication that it aims for (because it is Uwe Boll), but it still manages to be a disturbing yet somewhat insightful piece of exploitation cinema.