The first sentence of the storyline is not accurate even though the retribution is disproportionate to the offence .
Jean-Claude Dague (died 2017) directed four films before committing a heist to try to save his production company from bankruptcy. Having used his own vehicle for this misdeed, he was arrested without difficulty . He spent eight years in prison, an experience which he reported in his book Le Dénommé which he then adapted for the cinema. It was not the first time ,though ,that a French ex-convict had depicted his time in jail : José Giovanni was a good exemple .
Plunging into the prison world, he discovers, to paroxism, love, hatred, violence, drugs, depravity, decay, death. An alternate title of the film is: "forget when you come here that you are a man". Here he is forced to survive among characters such as Bull Rosenthal, the boss, Imbert, the rapist, Macadam the executioner, Rispal the resigned, Leleubellac the unpredictable guard and Vautrot the all-powerful director.
The principal ,Jean Dolande -the unfortunate hero was given the actor's name -,made a handful of films before opting for painting ; but his director who lived through this descent into hell , does not really succeed in adapting his calvary for the screen : I saw one of the movies he made before the events, "le bal des voyous" ,and it was really very mediocre,to put it mildly .
Had he used a talented director, his plan could have succeeded ;but left to his own devices, he produces a disjointed film , with so many characters it's often hard to decipher their motives ; the journalist -the only real female character- is particularly badly written and acted .And a long-haired warden in the 1969-1975 period!!
It must be the lack of a story structure ; the movie consists of sketches ,with big time gaps. Most of the actors are unknown or non-professional ; oddly though, the cast includes more famous names such as Philippe Léotard, Bernard Fresson,Michel Galabru ,singer Lény Escudero ,Claude Brosset ,but they are wasted .
