There are lots of prison movies around, Tango and Cash, Lockup, and Shawshank Redemption. Prison on Fire probably comes much closer to Lockup than the others as in these two movies the people in prison are guilty for their crimes. Prison on Fire was released before Lockup and has a look at the three year sentence of a man in a Hong Kong gaol.
The man which the film centres around is not a hardened criminal, he just was protecting his father when a group of thugs tried to steal food from his store. The thugs beat up his father and he ran then down and kicked one in front of a bus. The charge was involuntary manslaughter.
Prison on Fire looks at the politics that goes on in a Hong Kong gaol and is much more colourful than an American film. The gangs that operate on the street operate in the gaol as well and if you are not part of a gang then you are likely to be used as a scapegoat. As is expected for a gaol, there is a lot of violence and fighting between the gangs, and the man, who is not involved, gets caught up in the power struggle as a scapegoat. He is not a fighter and thus is lucky that Ching (Chow-Yun-Fat) who is also neutral, helps him out.
The movie focuses on this man and the struggles that he faces in gaol. His relationship with his girlfriend is examined as she struggles to wait for him to be released. He also faces potentially loosing her as she moves to England to study and it seems like she is going to run off with her tutor. There is also the struggle with the prison guards as they use him to extract information from the gang bosses.
There is a bad guy in this movie and that is a Triad boss named Marcus. Marcus is at war with another gang and this gang uses the man to get Marcus into trouble. Ching and the Man attempt to reconcile themselves with Marcus, and even though they have proved that Marcus is not strong, he does not want to listen. The action heats up in the cells when the guards leave for the night for that is when the gangs begin to rumble. It seems that certain people are placed in certain cells for the guards' pleasure, but this comes out much more in Prison on Fire II. Prison on Fire is set entirely in the prison and is quite an enjoyable movie.
The man which the film centres around is not a hardened criminal, he just was protecting his father when a group of thugs tried to steal food from his store. The thugs beat up his father and he ran then down and kicked one in front of a bus. The charge was involuntary manslaughter.
Prison on Fire looks at the politics that goes on in a Hong Kong gaol and is much more colourful than an American film. The gangs that operate on the street operate in the gaol as well and if you are not part of a gang then you are likely to be used as a scapegoat. As is expected for a gaol, there is a lot of violence and fighting between the gangs, and the man, who is not involved, gets caught up in the power struggle as a scapegoat. He is not a fighter and thus is lucky that Ching (Chow-Yun-Fat) who is also neutral, helps him out.
The movie focuses on this man and the struggles that he faces in gaol. His relationship with his girlfriend is examined as she struggles to wait for him to be released. He also faces potentially loosing her as she moves to England to study and it seems like she is going to run off with her tutor. There is also the struggle with the prison guards as they use him to extract information from the gang bosses.
There is a bad guy in this movie and that is a Triad boss named Marcus. Marcus is at war with another gang and this gang uses the man to get Marcus into trouble. Ching and the Man attempt to reconcile themselves with Marcus, and even though they have proved that Marcus is not strong, he does not want to listen. The action heats up in the cells when the guards leave for the night for that is when the gangs begin to rumble. It seems that certain people are placed in certain cells for the guards' pleasure, but this comes out much more in Prison on Fire II. Prison on Fire is set entirely in the prison and is quite an enjoyable movie.