Review of Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971) by Mikael K — 27 Jun 2012

Smitty, a naive young man ends up in prison with a six month sentence. As he enters the closed world of convicts he immediately encounters the social game that rules everyday life in the prison ward. The constant power play and a strict hierarchy of dominance become apparent.

âFortune and Menâ(TM)s Eyesâ? is based on a play by John Herbert. Director Harvey Hart finished the project started by Jules Schwerin in 1971. The result is a somewhat uneven but compellingly straightforward drama inhabited by peculiar and multifaceted characters. The storytelling is a bit uneven and the whole thing seems slightly aimless and a bit barren with its subject matter. Because from the very first minutes until the very end this film is all about the expression of sexuality and especially sexual violence between inmates. One and a half hours of prison rape discussed, alluded to and shown.

It is often presumed that sexual violence between men is all about a primal game of dominance. âFortune and Menâ(TM)s Eyesâ? takes the interesting stand of stating the opposite: that a great deal of violence and power play between men- and by extension any people- is sexually motivated, a twisted outlet for denied physical desire and frustrated longing for closeness. Yet the film doesnâ(TM)t undermine or glorify violence, nor does it use it for shock value. It leaves you with a nihilistic statement about human fear and weakness and the ways in which those make us into beasts.