Midnight ExpressReleased: October 6, 1978
Directed by: Alan Parker
Starring: Brad Davis, Randy Quaid, & John Hurt
Plot in a Nutshell:
A Student from America is caught trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. After he is thrown in prison for at first only a few years but eventually the sentence is expanded to 30, does he attempt escape or go insane?
What I thought:
I enjoy films in similar veins to Midnight Express. It's always good to see somebody break out of jail, right? I love movies like the Great Escape, Escape from Alcatraz, or even Shawshank Redemption. With Midnight Express, the tone becomes far darker and more dangerous. The character here, Billy (Davis), is incarcerated in a strange and hostile country, the punishment is harsher than it should be, and the prison is a place where madmen are born. What a tough movie to watch.
This is a cautionary tale about how to respect a foreign country's rigid rules. I remember going to Singapore where the laws there are very strict and the punishments even harsher. God forbid, I look at a woman wrong or chew gum. In this story the danger is there with a Muslim government, but Billy actually tries to smuggle hash. Because terrorist concerns are running high at the time, he is searched more thoroughly than to be expected, and of course he gets busted. The opening sequences detailing this attempt and failure, are probably the best moments in the entire film.
What happens when he gets into the system is often scary, but is it unjustified? The man had two kilos of hash on him in a nation that strictly forbids drugs. So while I think getting sentenced to prison for a few years fits the crime, it is the subsequent re-sentencing that really boils the blood. He was doing his time, he was waiting his sentence, as I think he should. But then to be told they're throwing the book at you and you won't see freedom for 30 years, that's absurd.It was at this point that things went sour for our character (as if they weren't sour enough). Constantly being oppressed by the guards, and seeing his friends brutally beaten for the pettiest of crimes, he slowly begins to lose his mind. Brad Davis plays this character very well. He has just enough boyish naivete and American confidence, that it begins to burn when you see him dealing with the pains of the harsh prison. A scene, early in the third act, where he completely goes crazy on a snitch, is a real highlight for Davis.
I'm on the fence with this film. I think it has excellent moments in it and does present a great cautionary tale, yet it is so unbelievably depressing. I can only guess that that was the intent of the film, but it is so dour, so harsh that I can't say it is an easy film to watch. I found myself about 2/3rds of the way through, just wanting it to be over, needing this poor guy to just get out. It really brought me down. So I'm not sure what to think of it. I can't say it didn't have an impact on me. The performances are strong, and the film as a whole is well made. I just don't think I'll ever watch it again, simply because it is so depressing. As an afterthought, the films I mentioned earlier; Shawshank, Alcatraz, and Escape, all have one thing Midnight doesn't: hope. There is no source of hope, no moment of inspiration, not one uplifting moment that makes it all worthwhile. While I think a filmmaker could make a good argument for hitting an audience square in the nuts by presenting a hard, unforgiving film like this, I ultimately feel you do your audience a great disservice by not providing a source of hope. Films are a roller-coaster, You have your highs, and you have your lows, they should be balanced. But when a film lingers in despair for so long, it becomes a bit of a discouraging and upsetting mess.
Bottom Line:
While the film itself is strong, it is unforgiving, and relentless in its own hopelessness. I'm very tired after this.
B-
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