Francois
Leterrier (father of director Louis Leterrier who, other than Unleashed, is really quite terrible,
with a track record including The
Transporter 1 & 2, The Incredible
Hulk and the godawful Clash of the
Titans) is Fontaine, an inmate at a Nazi execution prison. Left bloodied
and beaten after an escape attempt en route, Fontaine doesn’t hang about before
he tries to break out again.
This is an
incredibly minimalistic film, with much of it taking place from the confines of
Fontaine’s cell, tapping conversations to his neighbour or scraping away at his
door with a spoon, and the camera is infatuated with the nuances of his face.
There are
some glaring plot holes that could well be just a product of the time – cell checks
seem to be very infrequent and less than thorough, and why exactly do the cells
have a solid stone shelf, strong enough to support a grown man’s weight and
accessible even to the elderly, positioned right next to the only window in the
cell.
The film’s
finale is at times almost unbearably tense, with no music but for the sound of
trains rushing past and a mysterious creaking noise, and fans of the Shawshank
Redemption – or any other prison movie for that matter – would do well to seek
this out.
Choose
film 7/10
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