King of Devil's Island

Pretty fantastic. The cinematography is haunting to blend perfectly with such a chilling tale. The two leads are wonderful. Really, a pleasure to watch.

This movie is yet another demonstration of why so many things are wrong with "Juvenile Correctional Facilities". Its blunt, pull no punches approach brings the message even more strongly. Skarsgard might be the highest profile actor, but actually the kids made the movie what it is. It is sad to see that while trying to redeem kids, the society creates another kind of criminal; which is called "House Master". it is equally sad to see how states are only apt when they can use force.

Film na faktach osrodek poprawczy w Bastoya i perypetie wychowankow.

"King of Devil's Island hits the familiar plot points most prison films cherish (escape attempts, riots, chase sequences), but Hoist's keen directing abilities prove that worn-out film genres can be advanced with the right casting and setting." - Glenn Heath Jr.

Brutal, grim and very, very tense, but never heavy handed or exploitative.

Strong drama with excellent performances from the young cast and stunning cinematography. It's a tale we've heard before, but here it is told very well, even poetically at times. Nice score too.

Well shot and across-the-board fabulously acted, with a great Stellan Skarsgard filling his purely antagonistic character with expressive nuance. I couldn't help but think of Alan Clarke's "Scum" at certain points, though this is never quite as nailbiting. The script feels a little underwritten, and key beats in the story aren't perfectly clear, and took some time to register for me.

The inmates at a Norwegian prison island for boys are mistreated by the men running the prison and stage a revolt in 1915. A dour and downbeat film that slowly builds up tension and releases it in a frenzy of violence. Stellan Skarsgård is the governor of the prison.

Another prison uprising movie. One where you end up more preoccupied with how cold everyone looks all the time, and how they are ever going to get warm and dry, than whether they will overthrow their oppressors. Although the movie is a slick production with crisp cinematography and an authentic-looking setting and characters, it is certainly quite formulaic and overzealous. I have seen most of these themes and scenes done before... although the icy ending, I did not see coming. Mixed bag.

Wonderful film.

Taut prison drama with great acting, pacing and direction.

It's Cool Hand Luke! With Norwegian teens! Even though it is based off of a true story, the parallels to the famous CHL are very evident throughout. Luckily, that is a captivating story no matter how many times it is repeated. The teen actors really give it all. The "King" of Devil's Island might not be who you immediately think it is going to be.

Hristiyan dogmatizminden mulhem zorba egitim metodlarinin tezahuru...Benzertarzdaki koruyucu baba tutumlarini Beyaz Kurdele (Das Weisse Band - M.Haneke) filminde gormustuk. Basarili bir sinemetografi ve genc yeteneklerle dolu güzel bir film.

Slow moving drama with a heavy ending.

This movie touches very important subjects and generates strong emotions in a viewer. Mental characteristics of some people are shown very well through some events, the acting and the script as well. All in all, something worth seeing.

islah evi, norvec, baski, taciz, tecavüz, intehar

This Norwegian drama featuring some impressive claustrophobic cinematography follows a group of boys who need to be converted to 'proper' Christians in a boot camp on a remote island. One of them, a whaling-boat harpooner, stirs a violent uprising against the oppressive regime in the Bastoy Boys Home when a boy is molested by one of the house fathers. While the story has been told in many other films, The King of Devil's Island's imagery and performances make up for the lack of originality.

If it wasn't for the ever-lingering problem of shaky sound mixing - particularly in the case of dialog recorded after the fact - in Norwegian film this would be rated 10 or even 15 points higher. I can't accept it when the American film industry has had the technique nailed for at least half a century. That said, it's a great film that suffers from occasional annoying flaws that don't really matter to anyone but a critic. Watch it.