Well Deserved Praise

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

I've been trying to complete a review for this film for over a year, but have found it hard to really pin down what makes this such a unique and fascinating piece of cinema. I was 16 when Ghosts...of the Civil Dead was first released and seeing it at the cinema had a massive impact on me. Viewing through such young eyes perhaps makes it more memorable, I can't say. But this is a film which should have you thinking about it for days or even years afterward.Except for a few external shots and the closing scenes, the film occurs entirely within the walls of a privately owned maximum security prison. A cheery automated voice tells us this corporation is "the future of containment". This future is laid out before us over the next two hours- where guards terrified of what the inmates are capable of routinely abuse and dehumanise the prisoners until they explode in rage. Some of the inmates are then released, to commit yet more heinous crimes and prove to the general public the need for the so-called prison-industrial complex. The insinuation is, at the cost of a few lives, the corporation continues to grow.The soundtrack, not mentioned on the IMDb page, was by long time collaborators Nick Cave and Mick Harvey (both of The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). Bandmate Blixa Bargeld provides voice overs in the film, and Cave (who co-wrote the film) appears as the chaotic "Maynard" to astonishing effect. Another Melbourne musician (Dave Mason of The Reels) surprised fans with his turn as Lily, the desirable trans inmate who flaunts her sexuality whilst struggling to escape her reality through using drugs.This film is not for the faint-hearted. There are graphic scenes of drug use and violence, which was actually shocking for the time. Today, maybe it isn't so extreme thanks to the films which came after it. But for film buffs, this is definitely one to see. Despite the heavy reliance on explicit violence, Ghosts...of the Civil Dead has a story which is executed with chilling precision.

Civil Death: In Roman law, a person convicted of a crime where the punishment included loss of their legal rights. A person without civil rights - a civil dead.The story set in high tech prison, in the middle of Australian desert, follows an outbreak of violent crimes that has resulted in total lock down. Director John Hillcoat (The Road, Lawless, Proposition) combines narrative techniques in order to depict the chain of events in most realistic fashion. Very gruesome, depressive and claustrophobic tone of the film combined with scenes of violence makes this a good candidate for Extreme film lists. As you can imagine, Ghosts...is not an entertaining film, quite the contrary. Its raw, stripped, matter-of-fact cinematography rarely provides solace and sense of dread, panic and tension never quite ceases.The film is very offensive, sweaty, macho, filled with testosterone despair as much as the characters it follows around relentlessly, in an honest and not quite polished attempt to raise some important social questions. The fact it's based on real events makes it even more sickening.Most of us have seen good share of prison films, and you usually know what to expect. We know about rumors of drug smuggling, gangs, sexual assaults and all the other chilling stuff that follow these threatening institutions. But you usually don't get fed most intimate and gruesome of details you don't wanna know about when mainstream cinema's concerned. This film, however....thrives on it. We get sort of exclusive and non squeamish insight into inmates' every day life, with all the filth that follows.Nick Cave has co-written and played a small part here, as crazy Maynard. He also wrote the haunting score, that stresses the sense of paranoia and despair even more.With the help of camera's clinical precision we witness all the things we've been fearing exist within the walls of high security correctional institutions, and more. Rape, drug use, murder, suicide, beatings, you name it. But, there seems to be the point in displaying all the atrocities, even though the camera rarely insists on lingering onto scenes of violence, sometimes seems as if gets "forgotten", but even so, controlled. There is a political implication here. Apparently, the government has used the prison's clashes and state of complete lock down to justify the construction of even more high tech institutions. Men are being held in their cells and void of the recreation, TV and other pass times, so the anger builds leading to more violent outbursts. Prisoners are brought in and eventually released as even bigger danger to society than they were before. So, the circle of violence continues.Took me whole afternoon to finish this dramatic testimony and sort of brief anatomy of violence. In case you were wondering there are, and will be gorier, more graphic depictions of dark part of humanity. But rarely so stuffy, depressing and realistically brutal. You know the phrase some people use when they want to stress the filthiness of the video/film: "made me want to take a shower afterward". Well, this one sure did, testified!

Virtually plot less, somewhat documentary-style film about life inside a high-tech maximum security prison in Australia. Easily the scariest film I've ever seen about prison life, certainly the most claustrophobic, thanks in part to Nick Cave's chilling, drone-like score, which is a piece of work all by itself.It's funny - most of the prison life you see portrayed in film just doesn't seem "real" (never having been in prison myself I cannot say for sure, of course). But it just never seems real. In watching "Ghosts...of the Civil Dead" I was reminded of Roger Ebert's review of the original "Jaws". When talking about the shark Ebert said "...the illusion is complete. It just plain feels like a real shark." That's what I can say about this film. I don't know how much of it is real (which of the characters was played by an actual con, or whatever) but it just plain feels like real prison life. And this is the only film I've ever seen that I can say that about, which is also the highest praise that I can give it.This probably one of the most menacing films I've ever seen. Although there is not a lot of violence shown, the odor of violence all but oozes from the screen. Every word and every frame drips with the possibility of violence and brutality.The film basically shows the events leading up a "lockdown" in this prison. There aren't any main characters (the prison is the main character, as Cave points out in an interview on the DVD) although there are a few little subplots here and there. Mostly the film just lurches at you in heavy gasps and you sit and watch in horror. I know I did.I recently watched a documentary about life inside a maximum security prison in Utah, and it looked stunningly like what is shown in this film.Highly recommended but be warned, this is a heavy film.

I saw this movie years ago when it was shown as part of Channel 4's "Down Under" season. I don't think it has been shown on UK TV since - to be honest I am surprised it was shown even once.A great movie to be sure, brilliantly scripted, and of course Nick Cave's manic performance is truly astonishing. This movie is notoriously hard to get hold of, especially in the UK, however! I have recently purchased a (new) copy of the Collectors Edition DVD from an Australian retailer (EzyDVD). It is all-region PAL format so I can play it no problem on my UK player. Dirt cheap it was as well. There are a whole host of extras too so all-in-all a top DVD.I thought I would pass the information on as I had been trying to buy the film on Ebay for ages but the prices were going too high when there were any copies on there. Then lo and behold the Net came to the rescue. I got it shipped from Oz in just over a week.