King of Devil's Island

Original title: Kongen av Bastøy

20102010
1212
1h 56m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

19K

YOUR RATING

Stellan Skarsgård and Benjamin Helstad in Kongen av Bastøy (2010)

Action Drama

Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the boys home Bastoy, a new inmate leads the boys to a violent uprising against a brutal regime. How far is he willing to go to attain freedom?Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the boys home Bastoy, a new inmate leads the boys to a violent uprising against a brutal regime. How far is he willing to go to attain freedom?Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the boys home Bastoy, a new inmate leads the boys to a violent uprising against a brutal regime. How far is he willing to go to attain freedom?

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

19K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Marius Holst
Writers
- Mette M. Bølstad(story)
- Lars Saabye Christensen(story)
- Dennis Magnusson(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 8 wins & 11 nominations

Photos20

Benjamin Helstad in Kongen av Bastøy (2010)

Trond Nilssen in Kongen av Bastøy (2010)

Kristoffer Joner, Trond Nilssen, Morten Løvstad, and Odin Gineson Brøderud in Kongen av Bastøy (2010)

Benjamin Helstad, Morten Løvstad, and Odin Gineson Brøderud in Kongen av Bastøy (2010)

Benjamin Helstad and Marius Holst in Kongen av Bastøy (2010)

Top cast

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Director
- Marius Holst
Writers
- Mette M. Bølstad(story)
- Lars Saabye Christensen(story)
- Dennis Magnusson(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Based on a true story: Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the island Bastoy, located in the Oslo fjord live a group of delinquent, young boys aged 11 to 18. The boys daily, sadistic regime is run by the guards and the principal who bestow both mental and physical abuse on them. Instead of the boys being straightened out with education they end up being used as cheap, manual labor. The boys attempt to survive by adapting to their inhumane conditions. One day a new boy, Erling (17), arrives with his own agenda; how to escape from the island. How far is he willing to go in order to get his freedom? —JRN

island sexual abuse norway physical abuse horse and cart 103 more

Taglines
- Norway, 1915, a home for boys.
Genres
- Action
- Drama
Certificate
- 12
Parents guide

Did you know

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Trivia
Bastoy prison is still in operation today but is a minimum security institution.

Goofs
The movie grossly exaggerates the size of the lead ship of the Norwegian Navy at the time.

As the boys are trying to escape the island, at about 1 hour 34 minutes, the Battleship "Norge" appears in the fog. The "Norge" was a small 300 ft pre-dreadnought - significantly smaller than modern day Frigate. If one assumes that the men seen on deck, are about 1.7 meters tall, the ship in the movie is more than 3 times as large as the actual "Norge" - comparable to a modern day Aircraft Carrier.

Quotes
[last lines]
Erling: I once saw a whale swim with three harpoons in it. It took the entire day to die. He was weak due to the harpoon I shot him with. And covered with scars from all the battles he had fought. I have become acquainted with one boy whom is soon to sign off. For the six years he has been on this ship, he has done everything right. And now, he is going home.

Soundtracks
Sigur 1 (Untitled)
Performed by Sigur Rós
Music & Lyrics by Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson, Georg Holm, Orri P. Dyrason
Universal Music Publishing Scandinavia AB
(P) 2002 FatCat Records

User reviews29

Review

Top review

9/10

Dour, downbeat...and utterly compelling

Another piece of Norwegian greatness. KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND (great title, incidentally) is one of those based-on-a-true-story-you've-never-heard-of movies, charting the brutality of life inside a remote and wintry island-based borstal during the early 20th century.

Coming across as a Norwegian version of the hard-hitting British SCUM, KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND is great whichever way you look at it. The technical qualities are excellent, as is the acting from a mostly no-name cast whose one main star is Stellan Skarsgard, as miserable and burly as he's ever been. It's the developing relationship between Benjamin Helstad and Trond Nilssen that really makes this involving viewing, despite the distasteful elements of the subject matter and the general feeling that this isn't going to have a happy ending.

In any case, I absolutely loved this film and want to see more like it. The Scandinavian countries seem to be turning out hit after hit at the moment, both in television and film, and it's a shame Britain and the USA couldn't follow some of their cues. If you want a lesson in how to make an exceptional bit of drama then you could do a lot worse than checking out KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND.

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