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May 18, 2016Nursebob rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Impeccably designed, Marius Holst’s engrossing drama was the most expensive Norwegian films ever produced at the time and that big budget is evident throughout from the bleak snow-blasted locales to the flawless reproductions of the original reformatory buildings. Reading from an insightful script that cleverly weaves elements from Golding’s "Lord of the Flies" and Melville’s "Moby Dick", stars Benjamin Helstad and Stellan Skarsgård lead a sturdy cast, both young and old, in what begins as a “true story” but quickly morphs into a lofty parable on dignity, adversity, and the power of defiance. Even the film’s rather heavy-handed final scene falls well within its literary grasp when taken as the maritime metaphor it was clearly meant to be.