Recounting the tale of Billy Moore, the man who becomes a prisoner in a very cruel Thai prison where he starts to live his worst moments. But he has a chance to overcome this trouble, he learns boxing and start fighting for his freedom. Lately, he returns to a boxing champion.
Cole... plays Moore with a clamped-down, concentrated ferocity: the character is no roguish anti-hero, but a frantic knot of sinew, to whom we don't relate so much as just cling onto for dear life.
It's a spare, brutal, well-crafted prison drama, anchored by an at-turns wildly aggressive and hauntingly vulnerable lead performance by Green Room's Joe Cole.
There's finesse in the filmmaking, colour and conviction in the supporting performances... but it's Cole that really sells it, by making you feel like he's living every single horrible second.
The routines and rituals of prison life and the boxers' training regime create an almost hypnotic spectacle, defined by the give and take of sparring body shots and repeatedly massaged limbs.
The film is utterly riveting, as director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire takes the audience on a jarring, unforgettable odyssey that leaves us with some big themes to chew on.
