The Great Escapist

A prison controlled by prisoners, where everyone knows what you’re up to, where new inmates are greeted by a terrifying and humiliating initiation ritual, where drugs are freely traded and where the few guards present turn a blind eye to ritual violence. For Frank (Brian Cox), this is life – literally – he is behind these prison walls for the rest of his days and he learned long ago that there’s no point trying to fight the system. That is until Frank finally finds something worth fighting for.

In his first letter in many years, Frank learns that his only child, a daughter now in her twenties, is in a serious medical condition after a drug overdose. With a deep desire to see his daughter, the one light in his life, and knowing he’s not going to be let out of prison any time soon, Frank hatches an elaborate escape plan, and gathers together a gang of fellow prisoners, all of whom have a part to play in making the plan happen.

But there’s a problem – Lacey (Dominic Cooper), Frank’s new cellmate, a vulnerable young man who has already attracted the attentions of the prison’s ruthless self-appointed leader Rizza (Damian Lewis). Despite his better judgement, Frank finds himself caring about the young prisoner, seeing in him perhaps something of himself from earlier days. As the stakes get higher and plans for the escape draw to a head, Frank finds himself having to make the ultimate decision.

The Escapist is a finely crafted piece of cinema, with a striking use of visual and aural techniques, heightened perhaps because of the extremely sparse use of dialogue. In prison, it seems words are not necessary, deals are made with the raise of an eyebrow, and for the new inmates who don’t know these unspoken rules, they are quickly learnt – or else. As a result the cinematography focuses on details through a predominant use of close-ups. This technique serves to create a sense of claustrophobia, apt both to the prison setting, where it seems you are always watched and enclosed, and also to the escape through endless underground tunnels.

Probably the most distinctive feature of this film though is its structure with two different timelines – the planning of the escape in prison and the escape itself – running parallel through the film. Like other films that play with time, such as Christopher Nolan’s Memento, the structuring of the scenes is very deliberate, leaving clues which suddenly become meaningful in the film’s spectacular final moments.

For a low budget feature, The Escapist has managed to assemble a fantastic cast of both highly experienced British actors and rising talents. The central role of Frank was created especially for veteran Scottish actor Brian Cox, by co-writer/director Rupert Wyatt. Cox’s still, understated portrayal of Frank as a man frozen in time, much like the prison he inhabits, but who overcomes all this to find redemption, is very powerful for a character who says barely two words for most of the film. Cox is joined by the likes of Joseph Fiennes, other top British actors and Brazilian Seu Jorge. The characters these actors inhabit are fascinating more for what they don’t reveal than what they do. At the beginning of the film we are told through captions, the length of each man’s sentence, but we never discover what crimes they have committed.

It’s worth being in the right frame of mind when you go to see this film; if you’re looking for a standard action/adventure caper – this isn’t it; but if you’re in the mood for something grittier and requiring a bit of thought, The Escapist will reward your patience with a structurally and psychologically complex cinematic experience.

Rosie Hole, May 2009