Felon

Title: Felon
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Crime, Drama
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Val Kilmer

“When your life is defined by a single action, it changes the concept of time.”

Only knowing Dorff through “Blade,” and Kilmer from a variety of projects where he appeared as a relatively mediocre performer, I think it’s safe to say I was apprehensive as to how they would handle their dominant roles, but as it would turn out my fears were wholly unjustified. This is a tale of the inside of the SHU (Secure Housing Unit), a maximum security facility, and perhaps most impressively is the realism being aimed for. There is no ‘sugar-coating’ or melodrama here (*coughPRISONBREAKcough*), things are presented in a believable fashion, the horror of the plausible truth being more than enough. Fights frequently occur, but there is an absence of weapons by the in-mates (no ‘slipping things by’ the prison guards), in fact they go beyond just exploring the in-mates but also to the psyche of guards responsible for them.

Following the story of Wade Porter (Dorff), working to start up a business he led a normal life, trying to support his fiancée and son until their house was burgled. In an effort to protect his family, he accidentally kills the assailant, and gets sentenced for 3 years for manslaughter. It doesn’t take long for him to get caught up in trouble, struggling to survive on the inside whilst reassuring his wife on the outside. But he just gives our introduction to this tale, acts as a narrator; the really expertly performed scenario’s come from his cell mate John Smith (Kilmer) and chief guard Lt. Jackson (Harold Perrineau – Michael from “Lost”).

The former is a long time in-mate, and it is through him that we see the effect incarceration has upon the in-mate – how life in the SHU doesn’t rehabilitate, if anything it does the precise opposite, de-sensitising you to violence, and through the guards we explore that whilst he may be the arm of the law, he is more akin to another gang (albeit, the gang with the guns). The ethics of was he correct in doing what he felt necessary to protect his family, of the penal system and how it changes you are made readily apparent, and not in the least by the superb poetic dialogue spoken by Mr. Smith (Kilmer), who truly made the character his own to the point where the actor is no longer recognisable.

The level of detail which has gone into this to make it as believable as possible is quite frankly, astounding. Not least of these are the fight scenes, with a raw and realistic feel to them, it wasn’t until doing a spot of research that I discovered why here it feels more natural than normally. Most of the extra’s used were ex-convicts themselves, and the fights were not choreographed. There was no planning of how they were carried out, it was performed as a free-for-all battle between the in-mates (which actually led Dorff to receive two concussions during filming), as to attain an accurate fighting style observed inside. Furthermore, many of the events were actually based on what was known to occur at Corcoran State Prison, including the staged gladiatorial battles by the supervisors, as well as the unjustified shooting and killing of many in-mates, proving again the level of detail strived for in this film.

It is this attention to detail, this attempt to attain a portrayal as naturalistic as is possible whilst presenting a moral dilemma, of provoking thought not only as to what this does to the ‘lifers’ of the prison, but also to the guards, provoking the worst in people, all the while slowly introducing you to the concepts of prison politics with all the cracks and flaws in the current system. This is a film that, whilst not reaching the heights of greatness of films such as ‘Shawshank Redemption’ or ‘American History X,’ certainly makes a damn good attempt at it.