DVD reviews
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The film falters, with too many stories to follow all at once...
The Entitled
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The Orator
...watchable and even enlightening...
The Dead
...impressively original...
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Brute Force (DVD)
Year:
Rating: M
Distributor: Madman
The Film: 3.5
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5
Screen legend Burt Lancaster stars in this very violent prison drama. Its plot, about a savage penitentiary, appears to be a vehicle for an argument to reform the style of punishment meted out on criminals in a post-WW2 America still waiting for the spoils of victory. But with its suspense plotting and a persistent theme concerned with the inevitability to change or alter one's (inner) state, any thought of a "socially responsible" cautionary tale is swept aside in a wash of noir-like psychic terror!
If Brute Force is to be believed, we're all trapped by our fear and desire, and every life must end in a terrible execution. Jules Dassin directs the cast of authority figures as either inept bureaucrats or downright sadists. The prisoners all have their hard luck stories (related in a string of flashbacks emphasising the women that they left behind). The gripping narrative hangs on a breakout planned and executed by GI veterans, with a combat strategy, derived from a WW2 battle. The cast is brilliant, and the action still carries a strong jolt; you won't soon forget the sight of a prisoner being blow torched to his doom. Essential for fans.