Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
By Alex Watson
A daunting, often horrifying yet utterly uplifting experience- director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire has created something very unique. A Prayer Before Dawn brings the gutsy and unrelenting prison horror of movies such as David MacKenzie's 'Starred Up' and Alan Parker's 'Midnight Express'. The story of an English abroad has a fresh and disturbing twist put on it and with a bold turn by Peaky Blinders star, Joe Cole this is one of the stand out movies of 2018!
Billy Moore (Joe Cole) is a young and destructive British ex-pat living in Thailand. When he is jailed on weapons charges he is thrown into the squalid hell hole 'The Bangkok Hilton'. Living in deplorable conditions and under continuous threat of rape and violence and ostracized by the population, Billy struggles to keep his head. However, he soon learns to channel his aggression by embrace Muay Thai boxing and soon he begins to become respected. This sport might be his only chance at finding redemption, but is he worthy of glory?
Director Sauvaire refuses to let his audience off easily and some of the visuals Billy has to endure are terrifying. Early on we see him forced at knifepoint to witness a brutal gang rape where a gang shows their dominance over him. There is a complete lack of subtitles throughout this picture which goes some way to showing the isolation and confusion that Billy experiences. This young man is like a ferocious bulldog who is forever getting into scraps and combined with a crippling drug addiction it feels like a matter of time before he pisses the wrong guy off. Left to rot in deplorable conditions, you can also smell the urine, sweat and vomit that coat the floors of the prison. This is part of the genius of Sauvaire's direction because he drags us into the same space as Billy and we feel unable to escape.
There is little dialogue throughout this picture, but the repressed emotion and rising tension speak loudest of all. Billy is a young guy unable to express himself and the victim of continuous corruption inside the jail. Forced to beat inmates for a hit of 'Ya Ba' (crystal meth) and continuously tortured both mentally and physically by guards and inmates alike, only hope is to join the prison boxing team. The physicality of these sequences is where A Prayer Before Dawn comes alive. The handheld photography of David Ungaro brings the audience up close whenever our hero takes to the ring. The sound of pounding fists, the splatter of blood and the thump of bodies hitting the floor are amplified for maximum effect. By the climax, we feel almost dizzy and nauseated as Billy emerges bruised and bloodied.
A Prayer Before Dawn is a picture about how redemption can be found in the most unlikely of places. Billy is like a volcano that is on the verge of erupting, but in the ring, he finds a sense of purpose and acceptance from fellow inmates. His budding relationships with the boxing team gives a humanity to proceedings and the non-professional actors including Olympic gold-winning Thai boxer, Somrak Kamsing are excellent. Has Billy done enough to be worthy of freedom? Sauvaire leaves this open for debate, he does show a genuine goodness to this man and his hard desire to be redeemed.
Joe Cole has been making headway on the big screen with outings in pictures like 'Thank You For Your Service', but this picture solidifies his status as a rising star. As Scouser Billy, Cole is like a ticking time bomb and there is a barely concealed sense of fear and anger bubbling away. Cole's performance is so intense that it demands your attention and he puts both himself and the audience through the emotional wringer. His talent on Peaky Blinders has come full circle and Hollywood needs to come calling. Also look out for a cameo from 'Only God Forgives' star Vithaya Pansringarm as the prison warden.
A Prayer Before Dawn is a tough movie to sell and those who do watch will be scarred and inspired in equal measure.
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