Review of Dog Pound (2010) by Christophe C — 14 May 2010

Im not gonna lie when I say I hated this movie with a strong passion. So much I couldn't stand the fact I wasted my time on it and that I didn't walk out the theater. There wasn't a plot, its was so violent I could barely watch it and basically the ending was so unsatisfiying it was a turn off.

It wasn't until later that I realized just how ingenius this film really is. The fact there wasn't a plot and the violence was so unwatchable, that was whole point of the movie. Instead of having the audience follow the story from point A to B to C they are suddenly sucked into a world of madness, watching these characters lives unfold, unable to forsee what's going to happen next.

Their world is brutal, unforgiven and unable to bear, yet we have to keep watching because this is what the characters suffer through, whether we like it or not. Their pain easily becomes ours. It's a world built on raw, unflinching emotion, unabashing fear, where characters are unable or incapable of channeling their emotions in a positive way.

Thus the reason why everyone's there. Its a statement about prison life, how effective or ineffective it is and each character reaches a breaking point. It examines how the American system of early incarceration cements the amorality of young monsters who can never be rehabilitated.

You watch the downfall of the prisoners as well as the correction officers, how they relate and how they take their fustrations out on each other because of the built up tension this world and the outside world hands them as they try to literally keep their spirits up.

You watch as each character decides to become a victim or torturer. Dog Pound does what a lot movies of this topic are afraid to do, it doesnâ??t hide its despair about the juvenile prison where its grim story takes place.

Props are as minimal as is the dialogue, ensuring that the drama plays on the actorâ??s faces, and on the young bodies that inevitably collide. Clichés are absent. Thereâ??s no noble-savage exoticism of wild children behind bars, no knee-jerk depiction of prison guards as predators.

Visceral, brutal, nihilistic, gorilla style film-making that feels authentic, and is the best depiction of juvenile correctional facility I've ever seen. Standout performance by Adam Butcher as the anti-hero/hero Butch, a coiled spring of a rage machine.

Butcher has the chops to be the next DiCaprio. While Adam Butcher is the obvious standout, this is really an esemble piece. Shane Kippel is finally able to shed his annoying teengage Degrassi image instantly becoming man or what the character thinks is "a man" but all this fades away as he simply tries to survive almost reverting into a child at times, unable or incapable of understand what "hard life" really is until prision life unapologetically smashes him in the face.

Lawrence Bayne as Goodyear is one of the quiter characters as the C.O. but it is of importance as his character gives an inside look into lives of people who are themselves prisioners without the facility.

It isn't until the ending during one of the most important scenes the audience is given an inside view of how hard it is to balance the tensions of the job and family. This movie feels tailor-made for an HBO series, if they hadn't already done Oz.

The most effective scenes are the numerous fights, full of menace and dread, the blows falling with cathartic impact. It's not hard to imagine a teen getting off on watching the graphic action instead of learning a lesson.

While there are some parts that could have been made clearer (the sucide scene), Chaprionâ??s dedication to the utter brutality of the environment overrides a handful of plot holes, allowing him to skillfully reach the sensational climactic revolt even though it lacks a sufficient explanation.

Despite this, the film is so near perfection, they're minor. The ending, a finally release for the characters and audience 2 hour tension finally explodes, spilling out fear, hatred, blood and anger.

The final slamming of the door, leaves you shaken from the battle you've been emotionally draw into. The movieâ??s final shot has incredibly cinematic finality, implying that the only true escape is an abrupt cut to black.

This movie is simply worthy of all the recent accolades. This is certainly not a movie for everyone, but for those willing to accept the story for what it is, the payoff is enormous. Itâ??s intense in every sense of the word and will leave you with an excruciating knot in your stomach.

But Chapiron achieves exactly what he sets out to do, provide the audience with a glimpse of the forces that turns a bad seed into a long-term delinquent. Itâ??s painful, beautiful, heart wrenching and endearing and will leave you completely overtaken by the events you've just witnessed.