I must admit that my reasons for watching this film were rather suspect. It was partly because I have enjoyed seeing Jessica Stevenson in "Spaced", partly that fact it was on BBC2 (my favourite channel!) and partly because I absolutely adore Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd".
The synopsis above sums it all up pretty well without any spoilers, so I won't rehash the plot.
This is a strange film. It raises all kinds of issues regarding the rehabilitation of long term prisoners, but unfortunately it isn't consistent. There is a sense of the director pulling back from some of the issues she is addressing whilst being rather too gung-ho on others, which makes for kind of a bumpy ride. However, it did make me reconsider how I felt about long term prisoners so it obviously did something right.
There is also something rather sweet about the way the prisoners and their visitors come to realise that people are simply people when you get down to basics, and I found the penultimate scene very moving.
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