Prison 77

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Director Rodriguez has mastered the prison break movie in a new way with a revolutionary and brutal way that visually impressive and his detailing of every individual characters are the highlight that leads to a modern day cinema to a eye opener to Spanish film fraternity for future films... The camera work instantly strikes ur heart from the very first frame until the climax & the costumes are perfect to the core in bringing 70's Spanish flick live... Miguel hetram as Manuel has lived upto the character shows some matured performance that done at ease passing brutality and his arrogance in philosophy does make u crazy towards his character... The screenplay behind the formation of PRA was so convincingly powerful and the climax is unexpected ... Overall "PRISON 77"is not a just a movie but a soul of cinema that stays forever in every movie buffs heart.

I'm Spaniard, so I was excited about this movie. I grew up in the 80's in a town close to Barcelona. So, apparently the movie looks interesting and pedagogical to learn about the political transition in my country, from a dictatorship to Democracy. To add, the view comes from one of the most famous prisons in Barcelona, La Modelo. But, sadly the result is just a formulaic, stereotypical movie. Overall, a wasted opportunity. First, acting is correct. A bunch of usual great actors with a bland script. Second, settings are great but repetitive. It looks like the budget was not enough. Last, it does not add anything remarkable or new to a story that you can read in 30 minutes. So, overall, not a great movie. Just 120 minutes of formulaic and sometimes boring story.

... otherwise? No pun intended! I reckon some still don't know how good their life is - that they can't just be locked away. Even for petty crimes - if someone doesn't like how you look or what your political views are .. or just to save their own son. You pick your poison (not literally of course). Prison dramas - if you've seen a few, you may be privvy to some cliches. But this movie is able to avoid most of them. Maybe the fact that it is based on true stories - on what actually happened (more or less) many years ago. The director, whom you may know from other things, is really on point here. The message is delivered quite powerful. Even if you do not agree with some of the choices the main character does or takes ... well it does make sense. Not just for the movie, but for the character and his own moral compass and own ... well character! Again no pun intended. A tough watch, especially when it does get violent, which happens occasionally ... with I assume real images from back in the day in the end credits. Also some events summarized right after the movie ends ...

Spanish justice, police and prison system have never had a good reputation since 1000 a.d., they were rough in the 15th century, but even more inhumane during the franco era, and shortly thereafter. They are not clean and sober either today, but some civilian rights has come to be part of the prison system of the rayes espanoles. This film shows a very grim image of the 70's prison warden hierarchy, a film that gives you ''the shawshank redemption'' feeling, a film that you may say are full of lost strains and plotholes in the story, but many prisoners where strained away and put into plotholes of oblivion... its a very well produced film,youre never able to relax due to very nice acts by the front cast, the story never seem to bring justice or light of hope, leaving you fuming over the intense brutallity and consequent injustice, hoping that therell be an opening somewhere in this jail of hopelessness and corruption. Im not so well into the factual story behind this production, therefore i cant give my bias to the whole truth, but some bitter pills mustve been swallowed over the years, and some retalliation mustve taken place. So take your seats or sofa or whatever, this is trully a wonder of a spanish silverscreen masterpiece. A recommend from the grumpy old man.

The whole movie making was mind blowing. The actors were in appropriate costumes. The set & location making was perfect. Overall it's a masterpiece! The study of the movie was so simple. The reason of the heroes suffocation was unknown, who is made the viewers more interested to know the story. The level namely "inspired by true events" capture the attraction of thriller viewers who specially like thriller movies. The suffering of the hero alom with his friends are properly pictured. The hero lost everything from his life. Then the entry of the heroine made a small hope in the heart of the viewers. And The story goes on...!

What a gem. I found out about this movie while I was in a rabbit hole on Wikipedia. I'm sure glad I found it, and decided to watch it. This movie is about people imprisoned during an era of extreme censorship and repression. (If they spoke out against Franco in anyway, they would be imprisoned.) Only, the regime went down and everyone is still locked up. They wanted to get amnesty for their crimes and fought for that. They also wanted to get treated better. The main character lands in prison and is mistreated from the get go. He complains about the mistreatment and garners attention from the other inmates. Many of them can't read and enlist him to join the amnesty cause. He becomes the unofficial leader and faces a bunch obstacles inbetween. It's a very interesting watch. The kind of movie that just keeps your eyes glued to the screen. Never a dull moment in this one. The passionate acting from all parties, makes this a must watch. Everyone played their roles perfectly. I highly recommend this one. Make sure you watch in the original language (Spain Spanish), makes a difference. (To me anyways) This gets a LennyReviewz Score of: 8/10.

The way the people who are thought to be the lowest, the criminals belonging to all the different levels worked together and showed solidarity towards the injustice of a system that sells itself as reformed was inspiring to watch. But even then it does show even with the amount of support they can get, it can still only go so far with the way the world works at certain times. Throughout the movie, I was very invested in the cause and not the characters themselves that much, so when the end became more about the personal aspects, it wasn't completely fulfilling to me. It almost felt like casting the Money Heist actor was because they wanted the audience to feel reminiscent at the end on some level, maybe. Nonetheless, a pretty great thriller, I saw this year.

Personally, I found it really interesting to learn stuff about the situation of common inmates during the period and this prisioner's association, but I think that, just like "Argentina 1985", it would have made a much better documentary than a feature film. I found it far too long and repetitive, and at times tedious. It would have been stronger had it been half an hour shorter. The guards also, are represented as an uniformly evil bunch and their stereotypical brutality would have been more suited to the likes of a Rambo kind of film, particularly considering that it claims to purport a real story.

source: Prison 77