Dog Pound

Three young men are sent to a correctional facility in Montana for separate offences. Inside there is an order with its own hierarchy: the hardest inmates run the dorm and the guards make some use of that. One of the new arrivals decides to resist, and the chain breaks there. The film is not interested in crime. It is interested in an institution producing its own violence: it shows how a place meant to correct boys makes them harder, and it does not leave the guard as a single-dimension figure. The form is bare: handheld camera, natural light, cramped dormitory scenes and almost no music. The violence is sudden and short; no fight becomes choreography. Kim Chapiron directed. The film is a reworking of Alan Clarke's Scum from 1979 and follows its structure closely. It was shot in Canada and part of the cast are not professional actors. Adam Butcher, Shane Kippel and Mateo Morales star. Butcher's work carries the film. Who it is for: viewers who like prison drama and criticism of institutions. Who it is not for: anyone sensitive to violence. The film softens nothing, including scenes of rape and suicide.