Mark Reviews Movies: 7 PRISONERS

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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 10, 2021

The opportunities in the countryside of Brazil are limited. The quartet of characters at the start of 7 Prisoners could work the fields for limited money and, possibly, for the rest of their lives, hoping that it'll be enough to provide for their families now and in the future. They don't have much of an education, with none of them having attended high school, so college is basically out of the question as a chance to leave and look for some other kind of work and life. All of them want more, though, so when an acquaintance offers them a chance to move to São Paulo in order to take a job with meals and a room and decent pay provided, the four young men only wonder when they'll be able to start working.

That's when we Mateus (Christian Malheiros), the protagonist of co-writer/director Alexandre Moratto's sophomore feature, who is packed and ready to leave the countryside for the most populated city in Brazil. The work will ensure that his family is taken care of, since his mother is ill and can no longer work in the fields, while his younger siblings still have a chance to go to school and have the kind of opportunities that Mateus didn't.

Accompanying Mateus are his friend Samuel (Bruno Rocha), with whom he became friends while working the local crops, and two others, Isaque (Lucas Oranmian) and Ezequiel (Victor Julian), in a similar position. Of the four, Mateus has achieved the highest level of education, as he could have attended high school if not for the family's financial hardships, and still has a dream beyond physical labor: to go to college and become an engineer. The other three are more pragmatic about their situation, but even so, this job could be the thing that gets them to start considering more for their lives.

The screenplay by Moratto and Thayná Mantesso begins the story with such understandable and sympathetic simplicity in terms of its characters and their goals. The film doesn't need much more than that, especially once we learn the true nature of the job ahead for these young men and the complex moral battle that unfolds for Mateus. On its surface, the plot of this film is more or less a thriller, as the four undergo consistent hardship and the constant fear of something being done to them—or their families. As it continues, though, the film becomes much more about a fight between right and wrong, under circumstances in which there are no clear lines, although there are terrible consequences no matter which side one chooses.

The job is at a junkyard in the city, run by Mr. Luca (a chilling Rodrigo Santoro—more so because we come to understand him and what brought him to this position). Luca seems like a decent man and boss, showing the four their room and giving them cash out of his pocket so that they can get dinner at a nearby restaurant upon arriving. Mateus is slightly suspicious, since he was told this was legitimate, contracted work, while Luca promises to get their contracts later.

There are no contracts, of course, After a week of working, Mateus finally speaks up to Luca, demanding that the four be paid for the hard work and long hours they have completed. Luca, though, explains the reality of this job: They're actually working to pay off a list of debts he has supposedly incurred by bringing the four to the city and providing them with room and board.

Call it indentured servitude or slavery, but Mateus and his friends won't be leaving the junkyard any time soon—if at all. Luca has guns, as well as a guard and local business owners and the police looking out for his business interests. If any of the four do escape, he also knows where their families live.

The remainder of the story revolves around Mateus, as he first tries to figure out a way to overpower or, since that fails and seems impossible after one attempt, outthink Luca. The four prisoners (whose number increases—and technically decreases—as Luca expands and adapts his business) debate and argue and get into fights (Isaque blames Ezequiel for the first plan failing and wants to use violence), but eventually, Mateus gains Luca's trust. We wait for our apparent hero's unspoken plan to form or come into view.

There's suspense in that, but the actual tension here comes as Mateus, who keeps insisting to his fellow captives that he has something in mind, seems to lose track of either that goal or himself. The real battle of this story isn't between Luca and his prisoners, the prisoners amongst themselves, or Mateus and this world of enslavement, which grows in size and scope to implicate other local business owners (of both the superficially legal and illegitimate varieties), law enforcement, and politicians who only see economic growth and don't care about the means of achieving it (The way Moratto sees all of this—even the capture and exchange of human beings—as a series of routine transactions is horrifying in its realism and mundaneness).

The real fight is within Mateus, who becomes something of a middle manager for Luca (Again, there's that terrible tedium in the form of company hierarchy). He finds himself and his family becoming more comfortable, while continuing to make promises to his friends about finding a way to escape.

There's no single moment of decision for Mateus or clear line that he crosses to go from captivity to complicity, and there's a terrifying truth in that lack of certainty. The only line that exists in the world of 7 Prisoners, an amoral tale within an immoral system, is one of power—those who have it and those who don't.

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