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Borstal

  • 20172017
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
4.4/10
594
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
62,331
3,098
Jon-Paul Gates, Patrick Kilpatrick, Steven M. Smith, Adam Oakley, Alex Harrison, Kevin Horsham, Matthew Winters, Ella Stockton, Can Somer, Christopher Jolley, Tony Fadil, Frankie Clarence, Darren James King, Maria Austin, Gaz de Vere, Billy James Machin, Mat Holt, Elena Valdameri, Tiffany-Ellen Robinson, Kris Gray, Jeanette Baker, Charlie Killick, Paul Durso, Luke Anthony Jr., Jamie Robinson, Rafe Bird, Sonny Denham, Geordie Hider, and Ugur Çelikbilek in Borstal (2017)
Set in 1971, Kris is sentenced to two years in a rural Borstal.
Play trailer1:11
1 Video
2 Photos
Drama
Set in 1971, Kris is sentenced to two years in a rural Borstal.Set in 1971, Kris is sentenced to two years in a rural Borstal.Set in 1971, Kris is sentenced to two years in a rural Borstal.
IMDb RATING
4.4/10
594
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
62,331
3,098
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Steven M. Smith
    • Writers
      • Kris Gray(novel)
      • Christopher Jolley(screenplay)
      • Steven M. Smith(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Matthew Winters
      • Patrick Kilpatrick
      • Tony Fadil
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Steven M. Smith
    • Writers
      • Kris Gray(novel)
      • Christopher Jolley(screenplay)
      • Steven M. Smith(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Matthew Winters
      • Patrick Kilpatrick
      • Tony Fadil
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 11User reviews
    • 1Critic review

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:11
    Official Trailer

    Photos

    Pschotic warden Len Forshaw in "Borstal"
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Matthew Winters
    Matthew Winters
    • Kris
    Patrick Kilpatrick
    Patrick Kilpatrick
    • Governor Heywood
    Tony Fadil
    Tony Fadil
    • Paddy Gibbons
    Sonny Denham
    • Alan Welch
    Jon-Paul Gates
    Jon-Paul Gates
    • Len Forshaw
    Tiffany-Ellen Robinson
    • Sally Forshaw
    Ella Stockton
    Ella Stockton
    • JJ
    • (as Rorie Stockton)
    Luke Anthony Jr.
    • Phil McGuinness
    Kevin Horsham
    Kevin Horsham
    • Jim Hunt
    Maria Austin
    Maria Austin
    • Moira
    Rafe Bird
    • Andre
    Frankie Clarence
    Frankie Clarence
    • Winnie Wilson
    Billy James Machin
    • Jock Taylor
    Darren James King
    • Kingy
    Jema Gilsenan
    • Jema
    Jeanette Baker
    • Kris's Mother
    Gaz de Vere
    • Cook Staines
    Ellen Durgahed
    • Partygoer
    • Director
      • Steven M. Smith
    • Writers
      • Kris Gray(novel) (screenplay by)
      • Christopher Jolley(screenplay)
      • Steven M. Smith(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Matt Needham originally wanted to be a WWE wrestler.
    • Goofs
      The prison officer Jim Hunt has long hair, there has been and never would be an officer with long hair.

    User reviews11

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    4/10
    Not Really What It Purports To Be
    I like to think of myself as a good guy. This is probably defined as "Someone who feels guilty about the things they didn't do rather than the things they did do". Once in a while I do feel very guilty about something I did . Normally it involves one of my reviews hurting the feelings of someone who worked on a film. I once wrote a comment on a film called HOOLIGANS AT WAR NORTH VS SOUTH , and was scathing one of the production team wrote me a very polite private message saying the production was crippled by a very limited shooting schedule and budget. I felt guilty but also pleased to find out later many of the production team are going onto better things. The co-director of HOOLIGANS AT WAR Steven M Smith has just released a new movie called BORSTAL and I felt the need to watch it to see how much he has improved

    To be fair to Steven and co it's the marketing that murdered much of the potential of this movie . The DVD cover gives the impression it's going to be a violent prison drama where Darwinian law dictates it's survival of the fittest. The blurb reinforces this too and you're instantly reminded of Alan Clarke's SCUM. As a couple of other comments have mentioned this is misleading and it's impossible not to notice the degree of the misleading advertising

    What BORSTAL tries to be is a film about redemption with some feelgood quality to it. Based on a book called TWO'S UP by Kris Gray it involves a newly arrived middle class teenage prisoner called Kris arriving in a borstal. Right away you're thinking he's going to literally fight for his life to stay alive but this isn't how things develop. Borstal was long before my time and I take it TWO'S UP is an auto-biography and if nothing at least the film portrays the inmates as fairly average joes you'd see in the pub. A bit loud , a bit boisterous and a bit dim , but nothing really irremediably evil. In effect just some lads who need a good kick up the backside and in other words a fairly accurate picture of juvenile delinquents

    Directorial wise there's something of a problem to all this. Steven M Smith gives the film the look and feel of one of this lightweight dramas you see broadcast on Sunday evenings on ITV and this jars with the use of the F and C words . The casting doesn't help in that the cast all come across as nice guys you'd happily share a drink with . not something you could say about SCUM. The director also bludgeons the audience over the head as to the tone of the scene with over emphatic music that dictates what sort of tone the scene involves . This becomes very annoying very quickly

    When all is said and done however it's the marketing of BORSTAL that lets everything down. There's little in the way of viscous , nihilistic violence that made SCUM so unforgettable and cynics might say it's such a nice place populated by such nice guys they built walls to keep everyone else out
    helpful•3
    0
    • Theo Robertson
    • Apr 28, 2017

    Details

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    • Release date
      • March 6, 2017 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Production company
      • Greenway Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 27 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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    Jon-Paul Gates, Patrick Kilpatrick, Steven M. Smith, Adam Oakley, Alex Harrison, Kevin Horsham, Matthew Winters, Ella Stockton, Can Somer, Christopher Jolley, Tony Fadil, Frankie Clarence, Darren James King, Maria Austin, Gaz de Vere, Billy James Machin, Mat Holt, Elena Valdameri, Tiffany-Ellen Robinson, Kris Gray, Jeanette Baker, Charlie Killick, Paul Durso, Luke Anthony Jr., Jamie Robinson, Rafe Bird, Sonny Denham, Geordie Hider, and Ugur Çelikbilek in Borstal (2017)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Borstal (2017) officially released in Canada in English?
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