Dog Pound

A Bleak And Effective Look At Life Within A Juvenile Detention Center
Through the years, there have been countless prison based dramas and that genre has expanded to include tales set in various detention centers. It is an environment that is harrowing, to be sure, but not always as shocking or as disturbing as it should be. I think that I fully understand that incarceration (unless you're wealthy and entitled) does not necessarily lead to a rich and rewarding experience. In a way, as I'm ashamed to admit, I'm desensitized to the violent and psychological extremes one can meet behind bars. Writer/director Kim Chapiron, therefore, takes us to rather expected territory in the bleak drama "Dog Pound." Although Canadian in origin, this tale is set in a Montana juvenile detention center where three new inmates must navigate the treacherous political system that will be their home. I have heard complaints that "Dog Pound" is essentially an uncredited remake of the cult British film "Scum." And there's certainly no denying the similar themes and plot...

mixed bag
Not a film for everyone. No plot to speak of. Little character development. I would say instead "character EXPOSITION." Disappointingly weak on special features. A directors commentary would have been very welcome.

Yet there are some terrific things about it. If there is a theme it is the challenge of anger management in men, especially young men.

Three teen age boys are incarcerated in a reformatory. They are not good kids or terrible kids. They face the usual prison/reformatory issues of peck order and male jostling. But in this film it is refreshingly not an overdone cliche. In fact the film gets across an atmosphere of boredom and routine without being boring and routine. Congratulations. It is almost poetic in the sense that you have to read into the characters and the atmosphere even though the film has the feeling of being "rambling" and sometimes "slow" as poems often are. If you are open to doing this then there is certainly an underlying very...

A Bleak And Effective Look At Life Within A Juvenile Detention Center
Through the years, there have been countless prison based dramas and that genre has expanded to include tales set in various detention centers. It is an environment that is harrowing, to be sure, but not always as shocking or as disturbing as it should be. I think that I fully understand that incarceration (unless you're wealthy and entitled) does not necessarily lead to a rich and rewarding experience. In a way, as I'm ashamed to admit, I'm desensitized to the violent and psychological extremes one can meet behind bars. Writer/director Kim Chapiron, therefore, takes us to rather expected territory in the bleak drama "Dog Pound." Although Canadian in origin, this tale is set in a Montana juvenile detention center where three new inmates must navigate the treacherous political system that will be their home. I have heard complaints that "Dog Pound" is essentially an uncredited remake of the cult British film "Scum." And there's certainly no denying the similar themes and plot points. I...

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