PRISONER – TV Series Review

Prison films and series tend to pick one of the following themes: Action flicks with plenty of fighting, starring the likes of a Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme or Scott Adkins. Usually, it’s a good guy fighting for survival against overwhelming odds. Next would be the slew of sexploitation women-in-chains sort, using the premise as an excuse for nudity and other aspects of lurid appeal. Most were B movies that thrived in the 1970s –‘80s. The “Orange is the New Black” series classed that genre up considerably without losing its titillation value. Then there were high-quality character dramas like SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, COOL HAND LUKE and THE ROCK (the movie, not the actor). Finally come comedies like THE LONGEST YARD (original: great fun, remake: lame).

The six-episode subtitled Danish drama “Prisoner” (in Denmark, “Huset”) manages to break relatively new ground with a bleak, claustrophobic drama of variably flawed characters on both sides of the law in its first season.

The star is Sofie Grabol as Miriam – one of the guards trying to do right by the law and the prisoners in a corrupted system. She’s starred in three series I’ve covered this year, making her either Northern Europe’s hottest property, or there’s just a fortuitous coincidence among current exports. Either way, she’s a fine, versatile talent with 35 awards and nominations to date from several European bodies. She excelled as a police detective in “The Killing,” and as a hospital’s chief midwife in “The Shift.” Those set the bar higher than this outing could reach, though through no fault of hers.

Grabol looks to have been frumped up for this role, befitting a character long beleaguered by inmates,colleagues on the take, a dysfunctional work environment and a son whose drug habit and criminal ties add plenty to her burdens. And to the plot. Most of the show is from her perspective, along with Sammi (Youssef Wayne Hyvidtfeldt), the stuffy by-the-book new guard she helps to train. The prison has been running on a laissez faire policy of looking the other way on the prisoners’ drugs, contraband and periodic brawls or stabbings among rival factions. Letting them do their thing keeps the place relatively calm and makes the guards’ lives far easier. And safer. And for some, lucrative.

That all changes when well-meaning warden Gert (Charlotte Fich) announces that a new prison is being built, dooming one of three – possibly theirs – to closure, either ending their jobs or sticking them with a 75-mile commute to the nearest alternative position. Inspectors will be monitoring operations for three months to decide which Big House gets the wrecking ball. That pressures the guards to begin scouring cells for forbidden fruit, and enforcing all rules far more diligently than before, hoping to convince the brass to shut down one of the other two Graybar Hotels. Naturally, the inmates bristle at the sudden loss of pleasures and profits this imposes, putting all careers and bodies at risk.

Seems like the setup for a gritty, brutal drama, doesn’t it? Well, the trio of credited writers – two of whom also directed episodes – thought otherwise. They went for a slow-moving, highly cynical presentation, with little regard for arousing viewer empathy or adrenaline. Sets are mostly drab and dimly-lit, inside the prison and out. Not much in the sex/skin department; relatively shy on displays of brutality.

Miriam and Gert are generally the most sympathetic, but neither character’s actions make them protagonists to root hard for. For me, bonding with a worthy anchoring character or group is fairly essential to sustaining interest in what happens – more so for the time a series takes compared to movies. Perhaps they were focused on hammering home critiques of Danish and other prison systems as more of a political statement than entertainment product. If so, they achieved their goal. But that doesn’t make for must-see viewing. On the plus side, the six episodes end without cliffhangers of consequence, so it works as a complete miniseries if there’s ne’er to be a Season 2.

“Prisoner: Season 1,” mostly in Danish with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice as of Mar. 12.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars