I wonder if anyone has ever made a movie where young people in a children’s home or reformatory were treated well and only punished to the extent they deserved, in an environment that can help them become well-adjusted members of society. King Of Devil’s Island doesn’t just have a brutal borstal, but it’s also set on an island, and groups of people stuck together on an island never bodes well in the movies either. However while it may therefore sound like the film is merely mining movie chestnuts, it’s actually based on a true story.
It’s the early 20th Century and after committing some sort of crime, teenager Erling (Benjamin Erstad) is sent to the island-bound reformatory, Bastoy, which is supposed to give youngsters a second chance and turn them into productive members of society. However the home is a brutal place, ruled over by the sanctimonious Governor (Stellan Skarsgard) and his housefathers. As Erling settles in he’s supposed to learn and follow the strict rules, which he’s constantly told are for his own benefit. The other boys have fallen in line, feeling the only way they can ever get out is by convincing the Governor they are reformed and obedient, no matter how bad the situation around them is. However Erling finds it difficult to adjust to the brutality of a place where discipline isn’t just strict, it’s downright cruel, and the boys are essentially used for slave labour.
Things begin to come to a head when the powers that be decide to ignore the fact one of the housefathers is sexually abusing one of the boys. Erling and his fellow inmates’ get to the point where they can’t take the abuse and degradation anymore, and a riot breaks out.
King Of Devil’s Island is the sort of film that sets out to make you uneasy from the beginning and succeeds in creating an unnerving atmosphere as it takes you into an isolated world where cruelty is commonplace and dressed up as compassion. Indeed it’s why Stellan Skarsgard’s character is so interesting and scary, as it’s often difficult to tell whether he truly believes he’s doing good and is incapable of seeing the abuse and inhumanity of what he believes is his own well-ordered universe, or if he’s well aware of how nasty it is but is a master of obfuscation and denying culpability.
The film does rather ignore the background of the boys, presumably because the makers were worried they’d be less sympathetic if we knew why they were sent to kid prison, but it does mean the film works better as an allegory (and itself uses the allegory of whaling throughout). It explores the things people will and won’t put up with under an authoritarian system, and when the riot finally comes it looks at how the oppressed avoid becoming as bad as the oppressors.
Overall Verdict: A haunting movie that takes you deep into a dark world, and while the ending sometimes feels like it’s unnecessarily dark, it’s certainly moving. It may not be a cheery trip to this island, but it’s well worth taking.
Special Features:
Trailer
Reviewer: Tim Isaac