Drop the attitude or it’s back to the naughty corner with you.
In sports the jump from children’s and junior leagues to adult competition is often too much for young players to handle. In the world of prison confinement the stakes are far higher and the competition more fierce. More importantly the referees are either disinterested or plain neglectful.
Eric Love is a mere 19, but already deemed too violent and unpredictable for the world of juvenile detention. His hatred of authority and resistance to pressure is already at professional levels. He is ‘starred up’, meaning his proclivity to violence justifies him being moved to a maximum security men’s prison.
Far from being daunted even while suddenly surrounded by hardened criminals, many with nothing to lose, Eric keeps a stoic demeanour and a stiff upper lip. He sneers at orders and threats, and reacts to intimidation tactics with sudden violence and instantaneous rage. He is a loose cannon in every sense of the word.
Only two men seem willing to take more than a passing interest in Eric’s progress, even after an early and predictably violent transgression leaves him in danger of being isolated – and effectively ‘shelved’ away from the general prison population. Both men are equally determined but on either side of the justice ledger. One is Oliver, an unpaid volunteer psychologist who works with troubled minds to find common ground and a way through the despair that envelops them. The other is Neville (Ben Mendleson), a ‘lifer’ who effectively runs most criminal activities inside the prison, and who happens to be Eric’s dad…
Everyone wants Eric well away from them – or dead. Oliver wants Eric to see the error of his ways and some form of absolution, and Neville just doesn’t want him to end up like him.
Mendleson either nails the thick English accent – or butchers it. I couldn’t tell, and it was unlike any accent I can recall hearing. (I think it was clearly better than Eric Bana’s attempt at a Boston accent in Deliver us from Evil though.) But it is Jack O’Connell who announces himself as one to watch. It seems portraying a ‘hard man’ provides instant credibility; Tom Hardy in Bronson and Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper launched careers. O’Connell has since headlined a couple more films, time will tell if he continues on his upward trajectory.
Starred Up is a harrowing depiction of an incredibly hard existence. It takes no sides but manages somehow to generate empathy from the viewer even while Eric cannot find any reason to care for himself. The prison system is not cast in a positive light either (nor should it be).
Inside life is clearly violent and demeaning, and intimidation is both a weapon and a defence. Similarly the film is full of profanity and confrontation. It is an especially hard watch, grim and powerful, and while the film is very well made, it is another that I will likely never seek out again.
Final Rating – 8 / 10. Powerful and harrowing. A Star(red up) McConnell is born.
