THE LIFE AND MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST

Gabriel London's absorbing new documentary tells the hard-to-believe astonishing story of the man who has been dubbed 'the Houdini of Florida' and who has been incarcerated for almost 40 years for simply stealing his father's tool box and then defying the Prison Authorities ever since.

Mark DeFriest was born on August 18, 1960. A tough kid that saw more than his share of Reform Schools, he did however posses an extraordinary talent for fixing anything remotely mechanical.  He was just 17 years old when his father died, and after falling out with his step-mother DeFriest collected the tools that he had been left in the Will. However this had not yet been probated so she called the Police and had him charged with theft. This shockingly got him a 4 year jail sentence and the start of a lifetime behind bars.

A month later he made the first of his many successful escapes only to be re-captured after being caught hot-wiring a friend's car.  This was just the beginning of a cat and mouse game he played with the Prison Authorities who, exasperated by his many breakouts, took their rage out on DeFriest by continually getting his sentence extended and making his life as unbearable as possible.  Among the stunts he pulled was putting LSD in a staff coffee pot so that he could make a run for it when the Officers were high. He also fashioned realistic looking zip-guns from arts and craft materials, but as he says looking back on all these incidents 'nobody in here has got a sense of humor'.

Far from it and they ensured that DeFriest has spent 27 of his 34 years in jail in solitary confinement.  He has also been subjected to untold brutality by countless Guards who he claims, tortured him on numerous occasions using mace and fire hoses etc. He was also sexually abused and gang raped by other inmates.

In the early 1980's after escaping three times in lees than two years he was sent to the Florida State Hospital for treatment. Five out of the six court appointed psychiatrists confirmed that DeFriest was incompetent to be charged with a Felony  – citing symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – but a single doctor, the director of the Forensic Unit, Dr. Berland, testified that DeFriest was faking mental illness. This cleared the way for him to plead guilty and receive a Life Sentence even though he never physically harmed another human being.

Now decades later Dr Berland is invited back to examine DeFriest by his lawyer who has serious concerns about his mental condition. Berland not only accepts that his early diagnosis was completely wrong but he is prepared to provide proof and testify before the Parole Board as he believes DeFriest is genuinely psychotic and needs treatment.

The other person that features prominently in this tale is DeFriest's second wife Bonnie. Thirty years his senior, they met through a prison penpal scheme in 1994 and she became his champion and the motiving force to try to restore his sanity and re-gain his freedom.  The later part of the movie focuses on her and DeFriest's lawyer as they prepare for two crucial meetings with Florida's Parole Board.

London's film makes no attempt to be partisan about what is obviously a grave injustice and expects us to completely accept that the colorful DeFriest is always telling the truth. There is no attempt to get the Prison Authorities take on any of DeFriest's escapades or on his imprisonment which ensures our sympathies are not tested at all.  When his last appearance before the Parole Board (made up of political appointees) ends up as a disastrous farce, any doubts we have about the unfairness of this case quickly dissipate.

DeFriest is only one of 200,000 mentally ill people in the US who are in jail. In his case, having exhausted nearly every avenue open to him, his only hope now is a clemency petition that his elderly wife and his lawyer are pursuing on his behalf. If it has any chance of succeeding will eventually be up to Governor Rick Scott, which sadly cannot give anyone much hope that justice will ever be done.

★★★★★★★★

STARRED UP

Violent prison dramas with raw angry men desperately displaying their machismo just to survive the regime of brutality that pervades in jails always have an underlying tone of homo-eroticism in them. 'Starred Up' with a brilliant career-making performance from 23 year old Jack O'Connell is one such movie especially as it has the near-obligatory shower scene that ends in a naked fight. 

O'Connell plays troublesome teenager Eric Love who has been moved from a juvenile detention facility as they cannot handle him any more.  Unlike the other inmates banged up in this adult jail, he doesn't want to get out, as the reason he has forced the authorities to send him to an adult prison, is that his father, who he barely knows, has been serving time there for the past 14 years. 

The back-story as to how these two ended up being incarcerated is vague to say the least but it's not that important as its the attempt at reconciliation between father and son that is the focus of the story. He may only be 19, but Eric is a hardened criminal who knows how to work the system, which only serves to enrage the corrupt prison guards who are determined that they will not be beaten by this youth, even if it means actually having him killed. Their undisguised anger is matched by the determination of a do-gooder volunteer social worker who is insistent that he can cure Eric, and maybe even his father, by some simplistic anger-management.

The story gets a tad confusing on occasion when the men's shouting matches become incoherent, but one doesn't need subtitles to get the gist of the violent action most of the time.  This is essentially Eric's story and of the way that he has deliberately chosen to develop into manhood.  We are never sure either because of the script, or O'Connell's mesmerizing performance, if the boy actually loves his father or really wants him dead.

Directed by David McKenzie ('Young Adam', 'Hallam Foe') from a script by Jonathan Asser based on his own experiences as a prison social work.  Even with strong supporting performances from Ben Mendelsohn as the father and Rupert Friend as the social worker, this film, one of the very best prison dramas for a long time, completely belongs to Eric, thanks to O'Connell's portrayal.  We are bound to see a lot more of this actor as he destined for stardom.

P.S. Starred Up is a term used in the UK to describe the early transfer of a criminal from a Young Offender Institution to an adult prison.

★★★★★★★★

CAESAR MUST DIE

Shakespeare's play 'Julius Caeser' about the Dictator who was murdered by by a gang of conspiring Senators who wanted to stop him running Rome as if he were King was the most perfect choice to be performed by a Prison drama group.  Especially this one in Rebibbia Prison High Security Wing outside Rome which comprises of a rough bunch of inmates most of whom are serving life sentences for a variety of very serious crimes who found they could relate to the plot a lot more than they could have ever imagined.

The veteran Italian filmmaking Taviani Brothers take on the project of producing the play and also making a film of the whole process from start to finish.

Near the beginning of the movie each of the prisoners who want to take part are seen auditioning in close up : it's totally captivating watching these murderers and drug traffickers put such raw emotion into their five minutes in front of the director to ensure that they  are picked.  Once the play is cast and they start rehearsals in earnest, they all have to make use of any free spots in the Prison as the theater is still being re-furbished.  This in in fact adds to the intensity of the drama especially as so much of it is filmed in black and white.

Even in the early run throughs all the performances are electrifying and frankly its nigh on impossible at times to convince one's self that not only are they not professional actors but are in fact illiterate criminals. One of them, Salvatore Striano a former inmate who came back to play Brutus, is so spell-bindingly wonderful that I even felt the tears swell up at one moment.

I'm sure Shakespearean purists will shudder at the liberties that the Taverinis (and their collaborator Fabio Cavalli who also played the director on screen) took with the text, but I have never ever seen such a exciting version of the play.  The one very sad note is after their triumphant final performance they are led back to be locked up in their solitary cells for the rest of their lives.

It deservedly won the prestigious Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival  ..... go see this 'murder must foul' it is a remarkable unique movie that I promise will totally enthrall you.

★★★★★★★★★