Film Review: A Prayer Before Dawn

"I Got No Family, No Money, Just Give Me This One Chance, I Wanna Fight..."

Based on "A Prayer Before Dawn: My Nightmare in Thailand's Prisons" by ex-con and former drug addict, Billy Moore, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's debut, high profile release elbows its' way into cinemas this week, dragging along with it a bruising sense of harsh realism and the full-blooded nightmare of Moore's journey as he is incarcerated within the confines of a Thailand prison for drug dealing and is forced to fight for his survival in a sense both literal and dangerous. Shot on location at Nakhon Pathom Prison, a staggeringly un-hygienic mosh pit of overpopulated prisoners, both dead and alive, where violence is mandatory for staying alive and gang rape is part and parcel of being proclaimed as the weakest in the populous, Sauvaire's movie is a grueling, non-stop and overly horrific portrayal of survival which incorporates a menacing backdrop to iron over the cliches of the plot, even when the fundamental story is that of reality and not fiction, and with a standout central performance and an editing pace which works particularly well considering a complete lack of meaningful dialogue, A Prayer Before Dawn is a successful and daring directorial debut from a filmmaker unafraid to tackle the darkest tales of man and the instinct to survive, no matter the cost.

With Joe Cole of Peaky Blinders and Green Room fame playing the younger incarnation of Moore, his journey from angst-ridden junkie to dedicated fighter brings with it a frighteningly authentic physical performance, one which rivals Tom Hardy's Bronson in Winding-Refn's spectacular movie of the same name for levels of incarcerated danger, aside from the pantomime sensibility of the latter which is strikingly absent, and in its place, a much more humane and regretful character arc which develops as Moore becomes used to the ways and means of his newly found incarceration. With Cole's powerful performance resulting in every jab, bruise and serious injury being well and truly felt, it's a crying shame that the screenplay for the movie doesn't entirely hold up to similarly spectacular levels, with the path of the narrative funneling through from a run-of-the-mill prison drama in the vein of Animal Factory or David Mackenzie's equally gritty Starred Up, to a bog-standard boxing conclusion, all wrapped up within a thematic sensibility which reeks of a combination between The Raid 2: Berandal and Warrior, and as amazing as that ultimately sounds, Sauvaire's debut doesn't stamp its' foot on the equal quality of its' predeceasing familiars and is ultimately a movie saved by his stellar direction of a leading performance which demands to be visualized and lauded. 

Overall Score: 7/10