Scum

Of all the pictures about the malfunctioning of a penal system with an approach of “the stronger dog gets to fuck", this is the strongest in the genre dog park. And more disturbing (and therefore more powerful) is that it is about young punks who need a firm hand, uncompromising routine and discipline, but not at the price of bullying, humiliation, rape and other similar cute things. The despair of this vicious circle of “rebellious brats versus jailers with a chip on their shoulder" (the supreme scene from that point of view is Archer’s friendly chat with one of the screws), where the penal system becomes a parody of itself to such an extent that it breeds and teaches what it was created to combat, and perhaps this has never been captured on film so realistically, depressingly, chillingly while not moralizing. (20/05/2014)

A terrible place where some inmates apparently transition to staff positions in adulthood, and where even the simple mind of Cat from Red Dwarf can be broken. A possible positive aspect is that individuals are removed from the streets, but that hardly compensates for the situation where the corrupt refine their sadistic, criminal, and other skills, and for those who can be rehabilitated—or worse, those who make mistakes—only deprivation is prepared. The era of British juvenile detention centers known as borstals may have been coming to an end, partly due to this film. (01/09/2023)