by The Great White Gypsy

After a week and a half at SIFF, I’ve almost achieved notoriety. That’s right, I’m on my way to being mayor of the Neptune Cinemas on Four Square. Bow to me.

Today I fought a bit of good ol’ fashioned Seattle traffic to see Cell 211, one of the films featured in this year’s Ambiente: New Spanish Cinema. A gritty study of human nature, it is about Juan Oliver (Alberto Ammann), a newly hired prison guard who shows up a day early to work to get the lay of the land. During his tour a prison riot breaks out, and he is injured and trapped in a cell. He quickly removes his shoelaces, belt, and wedding ring, and poses as a new inmate. This gets him close to the riot leader, Malamadre (a typically focused and layered performance by Luis Tosar) and he attempts to play both sides and stay alive long enough to see his pregnant wife again.

The opening scene of this film will hook you. A strange man with drawn features is apparently crafting a makeshift shiv. We watch the process in silence, and curiosity turns to captivated discomfort as we watch him use it to vertically slit his own wrists. That is essentially the tone of the whole film. You will be uncomfortable, physically, morally, mentally and emotionally. It is only blatant a handful of times throughout, but it is there, the anticipation that something awful is about to happen.

Though I haven’t read the novel by Francisco Perez Gandul, the story in the film does a great job of staying away from certain traps. This is not a “message” film about prison conditions, or government inadequacy. This isn’t even really about trust and betrayal, or plot twists (sorry Shayamalan, keep moving.). It is about morality and human nature. This is like The Standford prison experiment, but on a smaller, more character-driven level.

Admittedly, I’m not as well versed in Spanish cinema as I might like. I haven’t seen any of Daniel Monzon’s other four films. But the direction in Cell 211 is very mature. The patience and purpose involved in not only Monzon’s screenplay but also many of the shot sequences is commendable. Even in a volatile environment like a prison riot, there is a calm in the execution, a restraint that actually adds to the tension. Cinematography, editing, and music were all solid, if not perfectly appropriate for the story. My only technical complain is that there are three separate time periods in this film. There is the prison riot, Juan’s flashbacks to that morning with his wife, and flashforwards to the prison officials telling their story to a review board. There’s nothing wrong with this mechanism, but the review board scenes were too few and far between until the very end, and only served as an annoyance. Also, the flashbacks with Juan’s wife, I feel, were grouped too closely together. Ultimately the effect worked, but I think I would’ve been more moved if there had been less of it.

Alberto Ammann is new, even to Spanish film, but he does a great job. His character is intelligent and quick on his feet, especially for never setting foot in a prison before. He claims to be in prison for first degree murder, an offense that apparently only gets you 19 years in Spain. Malamadre doesn’t believe him at first, saying he would never harm a fly. That’s exactly how Ammann looks. Yet the foreshadowing in what is one of several great conversations with Luis Tosar makes his descent into the prisoner mindset more gradual, and more believable. Tosar’s gruff demeanor in this film doesn’t hide a cliche intellectual bent on social reform like you may expect. He can’t write, can’t read very well, and is feared by everyone in the prison. He wants everyone to be treated decently, and at times is even very reasonable about it. There is enough heart in the performance for you to sympathize with him, and enough violence in his eyes that you never quite know what to expect from him.

ATTENTION HOLLYWOOD: STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THIS FILM.

Sorry, I had to do that. Not only am I fed up with the steady flow of immediate remakes, but Cell 211 is a classic example of my steadfast belief that foreign cinema doesn’t ruin stories by pandering. This film, as generic as it may sound to American audiences, swept this year’s Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscars) with eight wins, including best picture, director, actor, supporting actress, and adapted screenplay. It is a great film, very entertaining and emotional. But if Hollywood gets ahold of it, I know for a fact it will be just another retarded early summer remake (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Assault on Precinct 13, just to name a few) I guarantee, people, if you wait to see the native Spanish version, you will not be disappointed.

FINAL GRADE: A-

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