King of Devil's Island
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | King of Devil's Island The king of Bastøy |
| Original title | Kongen av Bastøy |
| Country of production | Norway , France , Sweden , Poland |
| original language | Norwegian |
| Publishing year | 2010 |
| length | 116 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Marius Holst |
| script |
Dennis Magnusson Eric Schmid |
| production | Karin Julsrud |
| music | Johan Söderqvist |
| camera | John Andreas Andersen |
| cut | Michal Leszczylowski |
| occupation | |
| |
King of Devil's Island (alternative: The King of Bastøy , original title: Kongen av Bastøy ) is a Norwegian feature film by Marius Holst from 2010. The film celebrated its premiere in Norway. The story of the film is based on the real events of the Bastøy prison in Norway .
action
In 1915, a group of criminal boys lived on the prison island of Bastøy in the Oslofjord under the strict regime of director Håkon. The inhumane circumstances under which they grow up here shape the young, make them hard. At the same time, the monotonous life on Bastøy welds the adolescents together - they become a conspiratorial unit. One day the two youngsters Erling "C-19" and Ivar "C-5" are brought to the Norwegian island of Bastøy. Erling, who is alleged to have been convicted of murder, does not bow to the brutal regime. He attracts attention several times through rebellion against the arbitrariness of the guards and through a failed attempt to escape. He is punished for this, including beatings, forced labor and solitary confinement. Erling befriends Olav "C-1", who has been in the reformatory for six years because he stole money from an offering box. Because of his good leadership and his good academic performance, Olav was appointed block leader and is about to be released from the institution. Since Ivar is not physically strong enough to work in the forest or in the fields, he is supposed to help out in the laundry, where he is supervised by "housefather" Bråthen. Olav witnesses Bråthen attacking Ivar and sexually abusing him. Olav reports to director Håkon, who then confronts Bråthen for abusing a minor underage. Bråthen does not vehemently deny the abuse, but makes it clear to Håkon that he knows about his selfish manipulation of the prison finances. Ivar commits suicide by filling his pockets with large pebbles and drowning himself in the sea. Erling is looking for Ivar and pulls the dead fellow sufferer to the beach. When Bråthen appears in the dining room, a commotion ensues. Due to the incidents, Bråthen leaves the island with packed suitcases to the delight of the inmates. Director Håkon portrays Ivars' suicide to a commission as if he had been bullied by the other youths and Olav did not take enough care of Ivar. On the day when Olav is supposed to leave the institution, Bråthen resumes his duties as householder. For this reason, Olav loses his composure and hits Bråthen. The brawl leads to Olav, Erling and a third youth involved being locked individually in flat prison bars. Bjarne, a former member of the prison who now works as a prison guard, opens the prison bars days later out of solidarity, but without opening the prison door. When Bråthen visits the three prisoners, they can snatch the prison door key from the rapist and leave the prison. Olav pursues the fleeing Bråthen. When the other prison inmates became aware of the change in the balance of power, they instigated a bloody revolt, which caused the entire staff to flee. The storerooms of the institution are ransacked by the hungry youths. While director Håkon can leave the island by boat, Bråthen is seriously injured physically by the young people in revenge. When the young people want to hang Bråthen in a barn, Erling steps in and saves Bråthen from the burning barn. To quell the revolt, armed soldiers are brought to the island by ship. They have no problems arresting the young people who have fled. Only Erling and Olav manage to evade the soldiers' grasp. They try to escape to the mainland over the frozen ice. Erling breaks into the ice and drowns in the ice-cold water. Only Olav manages to escape. He then goes to sea.
criticism
“The Norwegian drama is a plea for friendship and the right to resist. The fight is reinforced by the powerful images of the Norwegian winter landscape, ”writes Stefan Huhn at filmreporter.de.
“A look back at a dark time. The film hardly provides any references to the past life and deeds of the young people, but describes the current situation. The dense production is carried out by excellent actors and avoids the clichés of prison films. "
“Holst staged a tried and tested story in a tried and tested way for the general public. If you take these not particularly high demands that the director places on himself, he has made a beautiful, coherent film: a coming-of-age melodrama in a historical setting, with great emotions and a combative call for moral courage . "
Prices
- Amanda for the best movie, best music and for the best supporting role
- Audience award at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck
Web links
- King of Devil's Iceland in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ King of Devil's Island. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Michael Kienzl: King of Devil's Island. critic.de - the film page, November 16, 2011, accessed on February 25, 2013 .
