CIFF 2011: King of Devil's Island

There are so many real stories in history that I wonder why filmmakers tread into remake territory.  The great acting in King of Devil's Island (even with its Titanic-type ending) is strong throughout, showing how the friendship of two boys can outlast the abuse they and others suffered in a prison-like reform school, in this true story from Norway in the early 1900s.


Unwanted and delinquent boys are sent to the "school" on the island Bastoy, where they are known only by numbers and used as forced labor.  One of the older boys, Olav, known as C-1, is biding his time when he is old enough to be aged out of this facility.  One day another boy his age, Erling, aka C-19, arrives.  Unlike the others, Erling has lived a sailor's life outside Bastoy, and his independent nature doesn't fit well into Bastoy's regimented routine.  Where other boys toe the line out of fear, Erling is always watching for a way to escape.  His presence and behavior stirs up trouble, as well as ideas of escape and rebellion.  Although Olav doesn't want to stir the pot so close to his release time, he can't help but want to experience the freedom of life that Erling has already experienced.  Erling's story is paralleled in a Moby Dick-style tale he tells to Olav, of a whale that is speared but still escapes.

Their warden (Stellan Skarsgard) seems fair-minded but is still very strict.  But there is a guard (Kristoffer Joner)  who uses his small mote of power to abuse some of the meeker boys; as the story progresses we see more and more of his violent, abusive and damaging behavior, and how much of a prison he and other teachers have made out of Bastoy.   

The abuse and oppressive conditions at Bastoy finally end in a mob revolt, with the boys trashing the school and fighting back in a desperate attempt to escape, until the government calls out the military in what is known as the only time in history it fought against its own people.

The acting by its two leads, the stellar Benjamin Helstad as Erling (one to watch I think) and Trond Nilssen as Olav, created a believable, strong friendship filled with shared determination.  Narratively the story is written so that their plight is indicative of many of the other boys there.  The pair's fight back against so many facets of institutionalized abuse is a reaction to how emotionally low they have become.  The ending is one of despair, sacrifice and still hope.