Boot Camp (2007)

Director:

Christian Duguay

Writers (WGA):

Agatha Dominik (written by) and
John Cox (written by)

Release Date:

8 May 2008 (Kuwait)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

Based on real events.

Plot:

A group of at-risk teens are sent to a what they think is a rehabilitation program on Fiji, but is really a prison-like camp where kids are abused and brainwashed.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Boot Camp | Rape | Tropical Island | Lifetime Shower

Cast

Mila Kunis	...	Sophie
Gregory Smith	...	Ben (as Gregory Edward Smith)
Peter Stormare	...	Norman Hail
Regine Nehy	...	Trina
Alejandro Rae	...	Jack
Christopher Jacot	...	Danny
Tygh Runyan	...	Logan
Matthew Smalley	...	Nick
Colleen Rennison	...	Ellen
Barbara Gates Wilson	...	Rhonda
Christianne Hirt	...	Lucy
Lexie Huber	...	Marianne
Serge Houde	...	Karl
Chris Nannarone	...	Stan (as Christino Nannarone)
Joe Norman Shaw	...	Ben's Father

Also Known As:

Straight Edge (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Germany:99 min (European Film Market)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

CD Films

Do the End Justify the Means?

In Denver, the rebel Sophie (Mila Kunis) misses her deceased father and hates her stepfather Karl (Serge Houde), pushing him to the edge. After a serious incident with his guests at home, she is sent to the ASAP – Advanced Serenity Achievement Program – a correctional facility in Fiji Island leaded by Norman Hail (Peter Stormare), who self-entitles doctor, to be rehabilitated in a socially acceptable pattern of behavior. She finds a concentration camp without human rights that uses abusive military training techniques to brainwash the offenders. Meanwhile her boyfriend Ben (Gregory Smith) forces a situation at home to be sent to the same boot camp and escape with Sophie.

"Boot Camp" explains in the very beginning that is based on a true event; therefore it seems that it really does exist places like the Serenity Camp in the world. The story does not have the intention to discuss whether these boot camps are necessary or not, but to show a specific place directed by an unprepared man with psychological problems that uses torture techniques as if the end could justify the means. A dictatorship with absolute power associated to playing God always generates injustices and corruption and is doomed to fail. The story is entertaining, but some of the teenagers (and parents) depicted in the movie really deserve to be sent to a correctional facility or to a shrink to resolve their issues. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Ilha - Uma Prisão Sem Grades" ("The Island – A Prison Without Bars")