Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

Billed as ‘Die Hard meets A Prophet’, Cell 211 takes us into a Spanish jail with Juan, a new guard who tries to impress by reporting in a day early. That sort of attitude is never a good idea and events mean that Juan needs to rely on his wits to survive.

According to Philip French, this excellent Spanish picture has all the traditional ‘Big House, Prison Movie’ ingredients: the fair but weak governor, the contrasted good and bad warders, the charismatic convict leader (a knockout performance from Luis Tosar, famously menacing in Michael Mann's Miami Vice), the old lag, the slimy informer, the destructive riot, and the familiar message that the trouble is due to overcrowding, penny-pinching and the lack of either creative work or serious attempts at rehabilitation.

Thanks to Lionsgate