Review of movie A Prayer Before Dawn

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Rating:3/5

Joe Cole  is a bubbling volcano of unexpressed emotion as Moore, arrested, presumably, for possession of drugs while on holiday in Thailand. The film isn’t interested in detailing his backstory. Instead, it seizes the moment of his arrest and zeroes in on the dizzying assault of suffering that follows. Sauvaire’s film is unblinkingly, exhaustingly violent, the ordeals on show grimy with blood, sweat, shit, piss, vomit and semen. Men are tortured over loudspeakers, gang-raped, pummelled within an inch of their lives for a hit of ya ba, a highly addictive form of crystal meth. The prison’s boxing team is Moore’s only solace; when he enters the ring for his final fight, it’s wearing a bamboo halo.