In Hell

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Movie
German title In Hell: Rage Unleashed
Original title In Hell
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2003
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 16 (cut)
FSK 18 (uncut)
Rod
Director Ringo Lam
script Eric James Virgets
Jorge Alvarez
production Danny Lerner ,
John Thompson,
David Varod
music Alexander Bubenheim
camera John B. Aronson
cut David M. Richardson
occupation

In Hell is a 2003 American prison and action film directed by Ringo Lam .

action

The American architect Kyle LeBlanc lives and works with his wife Gray for a few months in Russia . One evening he comes home from work and meets a burglar who has attacked, raped and stabbed Gray. He immediately starts chasing the killer and finally catches him. There is a court case in which the burglar is acquitted by a corrupt judge. Kyle picks up a police officer's pistol and shoots his wife's killer while in the courthouse, resulting in a life sentence for Kyle with no early release in one of Russia's toughest prisons .

Hell awaits him in Kravavi prison, as the conditions here are tolerated and organized by the prison administration. Rival gangs terrorize and dominate the prisoners, prison guards sell prisoners for " sexual favors " to fellow prisoners, such as prisoners. B. the young US American Billy, who was serving his sentence at the same time as Kyle. With him and fellow inmates Coolhand and the dealer Malakai, friendly relationships develop for Kyle. Furthermore, the director of the institution organizes fist fights without rules, which are mercilessly waged until the death of an opponent, in order to entertain himself and selected guests. In addition, hard physical forced labor , which is monitored by armed soldiers, is part of the daily routine for the prisoners .

Everyday life in prison turns into torture for Kyle when he is targeted by Russian mafiosi who want to attack him, but with whom he had already come into conflict. After an argument with a Mafiosi inmate and because Kyle refuses to bribe the guards for relief, they lock him in a dungeon. Here Kyle initially loses his will to live until one day a moth puts him back in the "right light". Liberated from his solitary confinement, Kyle, who still refuses to bribe the guards, is sent to a dreaded murderer named 451, who has already killed several cellmates. After initial differences, the well-read fellow inmate leaves Kyle because he just wants to have his peace and quiet, so that Kyle has enough time to train his body and ultimately befriends 451.

Kyle develops into a fighting machine, but notices at the latest after Billy's death following a fatal attack by a fellow inmate - tolerated by the guards - the futility of the machinations and fights organized by the prison management and that the selected fighters are only puppets of the director and his select company who enjoys the fights with betting stakes. 451 later avenges Billy's killing with the murder of Malakai. The latter had previously provoked an even harsher crackdown on the part of the guards against Billy through a betrayal of Billy's planned prison break - rewarded with relief for him - and thus also significantly contributed to his death. Coolhand had already been killed by armed prison guards on a previous escape attempt with Billy. As a result of the events, Kyle increasingly understands that taking part in the brutal fighting supports the system additionally and is only ever disadvantageous for the prisoners involved. So from now on he decides not to fight anymore. This is where the philosophical proposition falls that every (terror) system can be overturned if all those involved no longer participate as one. Kyle refuses the fight by crouching on the battlefield and not reacting to the attacks of his irritated counterpart. This stops the attacks.

Kyle's boycott of the fighting and rejection of violence enrages the prison administration and briefly leads to a bloody uprising against the prison administration, as the gangs within the prison, following Kyle's example of non-conflicting, show unity against the prison administration and no longer fight each other. After the revolt is put down by the prison administration, Kyle decides to flee with the help of 451, who has a record of all deaths in the prison. For this, Kyle has to go to one last fight, the necessity of which has convinced him and in the course of which he now even manages to defeat the strongest fighter to date. In the following escape attempt, the two then overpower two guards, Kyle then disguises himself as security guards and escapes unhindered in the general's official car, while 451 takes the opportunity to pay the director of the institution a "last visit" in his office and ultimately kills him. Then 451 surrenders to the approaching prison guards without resistance. His fate remains uncertain.

In a concluding remark, Kyle's escape and the associated disclosure of the records of the conditions in the prison to the public is suggested as the reason for the subsequent closure of Kravavi prison.

criticism

The lexicon of international films said: “Prison thriller with some hardships. The tightrope walk between explicitly depicting violence and criticizing a violent system is largely successful, while the main character's psychological development is less convincing. "

Prison-Movies.net judges this film as a "terrible exercise in American chauvinism by a Chinese director and a Belgian actor" because of the extreme depiction of violence within this Russian prison and the closing message of the closure of this prison made possible by an American. ("Awful exercise in American chauvinism from a Chinese director and Belgian actor").

useful information

  • The film was shot primarily in Bulgaria to keep production costs down.
  • The budget for the film was about $ 17 million.
  • The film was produced for video and DVD distribution.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for In Hell . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2003 (PDF; abridged version).
  2. ↑ In Hell. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ prisonmovies
  4. ↑ Filming locations for In Hell