Bare Behind Bars

The Women in Prison genre is a curious one as it tends to revolve around sadism, sex or both; Spanish sleaze-master, Jess Franco, made several WIP films involving South American jails, barely dressed inmates and violent lesbian guards. On the flip side, you have the family drama TV show Prisoner: Cell Block H which ran for 692 episodes over nearly 8 years and has become a cult classic.

Bare Behind Bars (A Prisão, 1980), directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Oswaldo de Oliveira takes the two major tropes of the genre and put everything else to one side concentrating on Sapphic love, corruption and group showers. There is no shortage of sex and nudity in this film, with some of it verging on the hard-core side.

The plot, as far as it goes, revolves around life in a Brazilian jail for women where there is barely a man to be seen and where the warden, Sylvia, keeps a tight rein on her all-female staff including a peculiar ether-addict of a nurse. The prison is divided into blocks, with their inmates determined by how good-looking they are -- Sylvia isn't just a normal prison warden, but a key player in a prostitution ring in which the best looking inmates are 'groomed' for sex by Sylvia who receives a healthy amount of money for her troubles.

Of course, this segregation and lack of sexual release leads to increased tensions between the various blocks so virtually every inmate is armed with one surprise inspection turning up a whole pile of shivs, open razors, switch blades and other weapons. It's not just weapons that the women are after so, when the guards aren't looking, a pulley system between two cells can see messages or a dildo change hands!

You really know what you're in for when you see how the prisoners and guards are dressed, with the inmates in a green smock that fastens down the front (it seems that underwear must be strictly forbidden) and the guards, including the warden, have white dresses that also fastened on the front and are frequently open to the waist! Meanwhile, Barbara, the dope fiend of a nurse, likes nothing more than stripping off and 'examining' prisoners who are sent to her or who she says need attention which generally turns into a full body massage; this is far from subtle.


However, the final act takes an interesting turn when there is an escape and the action moves to the slums so you really get a sense of the poverty and squalid living conditions in the favelas but I don't think de Olivera was really going for social commentary, despite the film literally being called The Arrest.

I imagine that, for this release, The Arrest wouldn't be a particularly exciting title or one that would stand out on the shelves in HMV and other retailers and, besides, Bare behind Bars is a fair reflection of the content and Arrow Video certainly can't be accused of misselling the film or doing anything that would be likely to land them in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority.


If you are after sophisticated cinema, then you won't find it here as the focus is firmly on sleaze, violence and nudity. I'm not a massive fan of Women in Prison films as they can be a little tedious and boring with the best ones I've seen being the brilliant Japanese Female Prisoner Scorpion trilogy which are high on barbarity and violence, despite being exploitation films in their own way. Bare behind Bars is very different with the focus more on the flesh side of things than the oppressive and violent side of life in the jail; there are plenty of weapons around but you rarely see them used after the opening sequence when all of the prisoners are outside playing some form of ballgame and one is stabbed.

This is the sort of film that will find an audience somewhere so as you know whether you like Women in Prison films or not and whether a 'down and dirty', sleazy Brazilian flick with some bizarre and (un)intentional humour could be the sort of thing to keep you entertained for 90 minutes. I was slightly bored on a couple of occasions but that was because, and I never thought I'd say this, but the all-women shower scenes got a little tiresome. Actually, the prison (and shooting location) looked so dirty that I imagine that the cast were fairly glad to get their hands on some soap and running water as I doubt it was the most luxurious of shoots with each actress afforded their own trailer!


The Disc

Extra Features
I haven't seen the final package yet, but all the disc contains is the trailer which is a veritable highlight reel the film, narrated by a woman who escaped and intends to stay that way.

In terms of the package, the press release says that it comes with a reversible cover with newly commissioned and original artwork, a double sided foldout poster and a collector's booklet with original artwork and stills plus new writing by Robin Bougie (he of Cinema Sewer fame). It does seem then, that the best of the extra material is not on the disc but in paper form.


The Picture
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, the picture is suitably grimy and dirty so the prison looks like the filthy hellhole the inmates say it is whilst the flesh tones -- of which there are many -- look very good and are solid throughout. The picture is a little soft with some instances of moiré and aliasing but these are only slight and are nothing really to detract from the film itself. The colours are strong and contrast levels fairly deep which is surprising for something like this.

It appears that this was shot entirely on location in a real jail and in a real favela so you do have a sense of authenticity and realism that is very different from other films and TV shows which do look a little too clean and where the walls wobble! Unfortunately, Oswaldo de Olivera isn't the world's greatest cinematographer and some shots are badly framed, composed and lit.

The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is clear enough with the only option being the English dub. I'm not sure whether a Portuguese soundtrack exists -- it must do for distribution in its native Brazil -- and that would have been a good addition but I can live without this as the English one is clear. However, the delivery occasionally veers towards the Eurotrash style of dubbing so you will find yourself laughing at certain lines, especially from Barbara, the nurse; whether this is intentional and is the same in Portuguese, I don't know.


Final Thoughts
Apparently, this has been called 'the mother of WIPs' and I imagine that is because of the sheer amount of time that actresses spend undressed (nudity is practically the prison uniform) but the torture sequences are a little tame and the warden and guards aren't sadistic enough for my liking. If you want an erotic WIP film, then go for one directed by Jess Franco but this will no doubt, and quite rightly, find a place on the shelves of many cult film fans (you know who you are).

Bare behind Bars is cheap, sleazy and a fine example of exploitation cinema; sophisticated, well acted, scripted and directed it is not but hey, isn't that part of the reason we watch these films?