Tough, gritty and unrelenting comes this hard knuckle prison story involving some seriously bad offenders.
At the tender age of 12, Mel Blight (Vincent Miller) killed a fellow youngster who had given him a clip.
After a stint in juvie, at age 18 he has been transferred to an adult jail.
Blight’s upbringing was far from ideal. Like him, his father was imprisoned and his mother was fearful of what his father could do.
Now, Blight shares a cell with one of Australia’s most notorious criminals, Mark Shepard (Cosmo Jarvis).
Shepard was locked up for paedophilia, rape and murder, but found salvation through God.
Still, he doesn’t seem to be the full bottle. In fact, many, if not most, of the prisoners are damaged goods and suffer from mental illness.
The other element in play here is the intergenerational impact of incarceration.
Shepard now preaches regularly to other inmates in the prison chapel, although they are largely dismissive of his overtures.
When Blight enters Shepard’s cell with a small keyboard, Shepard invites him to provide uplifting musical accompaniment while he is proselytising.
Introspective, Blight continues to be plagued by the magnitude of his own crime and fears being paroled.
Warren Murfett (Guy Pearce) was on a vicious cycle of drink and drugs when he was jailed and now he is just a couple of months away from parole.
That is when – after a violent outburst – Blight is moved into Murfett’s cell.
Murfett is beholden to the jail’s enforcer and instead of protecting Blight, he tasks him with carrying out a contract killing on Shepard.
Only all doesn’t go according to plan.
Meanwhile, Murfett is granted day release to visit his estranged son, Adrian (Toby Wallace), as a first step towards parole.
That also takes an unexpected and ugly turn.
Writer and director Charles Williams has drawn upon personal experience to craft a brutal tale, which looks and feels real.
Williams grew up in a volatile environment, with family members in and out of prison. One committed suicide while inside.
Further, Williams has always been interested in inherited damage, as well as how responsible people are for their own transgressions and what mitigates that.
The script is well drawn, the environment created insular and the performances memorable.
Vincent Miller plays Blight as trapped in his own negative thoughts.
As Warren Murfett, Guy Pearce adopts the persona of a seasoned pragmatist, who knows which way is up.
Cosmo Jarvis is forever off kilter as Mark Shepard.
In a smaller but significant role, Toby Wallace makes an immediate impact as Murfett’s affected son.
There is strength and fortitude in Tammy Macintosh, who is a significant player in the prison’s hierarchy.
She is Colleen Quillinan, whose eyes are wide open to the power plays between inmates.
Inside never takes the easy road and is all the better for it.
Rated MA, it scores an 8 out of 10.
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