Purgatory

Starting off this *is* the writing of an oft-favoured 1980's B-grade fan, so I am in no way writing this to compete with previous reviewers or take some imagined review 'injustice' into my own hands.

I appreciate the plot line as a particularly classic one and with its means to expand on whatever drama or storyline unfolds the end result is what you get. Its the whole 'put in an overseas jail' thing. Yes, 'purgatory'. So my comments are really relative to people who like me who enjoy a little cheesiness. No you wouldn't see Meryl Streep in a movie like this one and thats what gives its character.

Take bits and pieces from the movie. For me they are dazzling scenes occurring by the minute. No matter what they say it all seems to wind up funny to me. No matter what the musical soundtrack is, it always manages to impress vintage cheese upon me. I am about to write up some quotes so check them out. Thy might give you an idea of what you're in for.

Yes. The 80's were this bad. Awesome

Read dozens reviews and wandered why people are so close-eyed. The film shows a real-like story happened in Rhodesia, sorry, after fall of Rhodesia, the newly created independent state of Zimbabwe. Clearly shown Russian red flags. Clearly shown Cuban militants and Castro portraits. Accurate image of American diplomats who imitated protection of the US citizens.

Absolutely, this documentary styled film critically depicted both totalitarian communists system and lair US policy.

This was a deep satirical political message of people of South Africa who felt a close catastrophe after the silent betrayal of UK and US. They had seen what happened in Rhodesia and they knew that same will occur in their native land.

After the several years the people of South Africa has been expelled from their land. Developed country was ruined, gangs expanded by country, garbage and blood made the streets unfit for living. Majority of the population fled from country for ten years.

This truly crappy women-in-prison flick looks like a leftover from the 1970s. Like so many of that genre, it was shot in the Philippines. One difference; instead of a totally no-name cast, it has Tanya Roberts, the erstwhile Charlie's Angel. Hold your Oscar nominations, please.

Though none exists, this movie could easily be subtitled, "Carly and Melanie Go to Africa and Get Gang Raped." That's pretty much the size of it. Sadly, poor Melanie drops out in the first twenty minutes, so that leaves Carly ( Roberts ) to fend for herself against a bunch of really yucky people. They're yucky, she's plucky. The outcome is predictable.

Lots of people get killed along the way, not that anyone really cares. The biggest question remains: What is John Newland doing in this dreck? Yes, that's right; the same John Newland who hosted the Sci-Fi TV classic from the 1950s, "One Step Beyond". He's dead now, so it's impossible to ask him. One can only imagine that his last wish was to have his name deleted from the credits. That appears to have been granted.

Pick almost any "Women In Prison" movie where some young lovelies are unjustly thrown behind bars and then abused by the warden, the guards, the other prisoners....That's this movie. Still, it has a young, lovely and long-legged Tanya Roberts as one of the hapless prisoners. There's a little bit of nudity here and there, and a lot of explosions at the end. You've seen it before.

Despite the initial set-up (2 American girls in a foreign - here African - country get arrested and sentenced to 11 years in jail for a crime they didn't commit), "Purgatory" is not really a Women-In-Prison film. It almost completely ignores the daily prison life of the women and focuses on one aspect only: their sexual exploitation. The warden has set up a prostitution ring and the prisoners are used to satisfy the needs of many high-paying customers. After 75 minutes of this repellent junk, we finally get to the escape part. "Purgatory" supposedly has serious intentions: there are even title cards telling us what date it is, and at the end another card telling us what happened to the surviving characters, as if this was based on a true story, even though at the end of the credits there is the usual "any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental" disclaimer. But it is technically rough, even amateurish at times, and although Tanya Roberts deserves credit for taking on a role that has her appear completely unglamorous, she's still too limited an actress to carry a movie by herself. (*)