This film 'inspired by real events' is set in the borstal on the Norwegian island of Bastøy in the winter of 1915. We are introduced to the establishment with new inmate Erling, inmate C19. It quickly becomes apparent that life there is harsh; the boys are expected to work hard and any infringement of the rules will incur severe punishments. Erling befriends Olav, inmate C1 who is the senior inmate in their dormitory. Olav is due to be released soon so doesn't want to rock the boat but when he witnesses Bråthen, the housefather, abusing a boy Erling persuades him to inform the governor. Rather than investigate the governor accuses him of lying. The events that follow lead up to Erling and Olav being moved to solitary confinement however they escape and soon there is a full scale revolt against the prison staff. As the military arrive to quell the uprising Erling and Olav attempt to escape the island by crossing the frozen fjord.While this certainly isn't a feel-good film it has enough feel-good moments to get us through the more gruelling scenes and the sheer bleakness of the setting. The cast do a fine job; Benjamin Helstad and Trond Nilssen are great as Erling and Olav; Kristoffer Joner nicely captures the cowardly unpleasantness of Bråthen and Stellan Skarsgård puts in a fine performance as the governor who clearly thinks he is doing a good job helping the boys when it is clear that his regime is far from good. The story moves along at a decent pace; neither feeling rushed nor dragging. The film has a very cold feel; it isn't just the snow on the ground; the light has that permanent blue tint of an overcast winter day and the boys are clearly not dressed for the weather. While the regime we see is harsh the film doesn't show anything too unpleasant meaning the film is suitable for teenagers and older. Overall this might not be a film to 'enjoy' but it is certainly worth watching.These comments are based on watching the film in Norwegian with English subtitles.

A gripping and tragic movie made even more so because its based on real events. It surrounds the infamous Bastøy Boys Home correctional facility in Norway and the violent uprising that took place there in 1915, led in part by 17 year old inmate Erling who bucks against the brutal regime.I spent the entire movie feeling cold, exhausted and hungry as the wintry isolation almost becomes a character in itself here. Why didn't anyone ever wear a jacket? Was that part of the punishment at the home?Great performances from everyone, although for some reason I'd been expecting more brutality from Stellan Skarsgard, maybe because he always looks so angry and mean. The real problem here was the dorm master! In the end I was left wondering how much of this story is true and slightly confused by the bittersweet flash-forward at the end, how many years later was that? Was "he" a whaling captain? A little vague. 02.15.14

Good Norwegian drama, but could have been great. Good plot, well developed. The set up and build up to the inevitable climax was great, and set the scene for a fantastic conclusion. Character development is also good.However, the final scenes isn't as satisfactory as the build up. There are a few scenes and events which just don't gel, and which make the last quarter or so of the movie feel a bit contrived. Credibility is restored somewhat by the moving ending, however.Good performances all round. The only known actor (to us non-Norwegians, at least) in the cast is Stellan Skarsgard, who seems to appear in every Scandinavian movie. He is excellent, as always, as the governor of the prison.

Kongen av Bastøy is based on actual events happening on the Bastøy correctional facility for difficult boys, back in 1915. The Norwegian island Bastøy is located in the Oslo fjord, between Horten and Moss, about an hours drive south of Norway's capitol, what until 1919 was called Christiania before changing name back to original Oslo.Marius Holst has made another good film about young boys coping with coming of age. This time he has gone to the core of coping with misplaced childhoods. Well acted, and very true to it's time frame, Kongen of Bastøy, is very believable story made with a 10 million dollar budget. Stellan Skarsgård, Kristoffer Joner, Benjamin Helstad and Trond Nilssen does the very best of method acting of their characters.The story is both sore, dramatic and tragic, as well as true. It tries to both tell Norwegian history back when the country was poor, and when it was likely to be sent on a whaling ship, being a youngster from difficult background. So why is this film not a 10 out of 10. so many of these heart-wrenching stories easily make you get tears in your eyes.Well, I'm afraid to say that this is a true story's dilemma. Making the best possible story come out in a film, you have to love of eel for the characters. The young boys on this facility is not the ones easy to love. They are brutal, uneducated, cheeky, unable to show affection and victims of a difficult past. Though Marius Holst tries to make us understand and feel affection for both the kids and the "wardens" in this boys home, I simply can't really start to like any of the characters.Well acted, well written, but does director Holst really make us care? He has shown he know how to do this in the great story of "Cross my heart and hope to die", In Norwegian: "Ti kniver i hjertet" and "Mirsush" or "Blodsbånd", and succeeded well there. In Kongen av Bastøy which is a story of 10 years in progress, the trouble is that he had to face reality.Telling a story on difficult boys, obviously has to show the boys how they are. And Marius Holst is no "tears-seeker". Neither is his leading actor in this. He obviously has felt this story has to be told. And as a historic manuscript on how one solved this cases of difficult boys back then, it functions very well. Just don't expect to really care. Maybe this makes the film even better. It should, but I'm afraid I still feel it lacks this. To really be able to touch a movie-goer, the fictional adding would have done the trick. making the film an even better story, but less true. That's the dilemma of telling a true story. If you want the story to be loved, you gotta add the elements of heart and soul, even if it would be untrue to the story told.So for this cold bastard, I'm afraid this is just a good told story, and not a classic as I'd like it to be, and maybe also therefore not the possible box office hit it would have been, if made as a heart wrenching story.Making a film like this loved, really need us to identify. This is the only true trouble with an otherwise great film.Bastøy correctional facility was closed down in the fifties, when Norway was recovering from the 2nd World war. Now there's a prison out there. I'm sure a lot of kids was growing up hating Bastøy. Bastøy still have a negative sound for Norwegians, well deserved.