Synopsis
King of Devil's Island (Kongen av Bastøy, 2010) is a Norwegian historical drama directed by Marius Holst — watch it online on iFILM. Norway, winter 1915. The island of Bastøy sits in the Oslofjord and houses a reform school for boys aged 11 to 18. Stellan Skarsgård plays the governor, who runs the place on humiliation, hard labour and the kind of quiet violence that never leaves a visible mark.
A new arrival, Erling — played by Benjamin Helstad — figures out the system fast. He turns 18 in spring, at which point he gets transferred to an adult prison. His window for escape is closing. What starts as a private plan becomes something larger when a brutal incident pushes the whole colony to breaking point. The boys seize the island. The army is sent in with 150 soldiers to take it back.
The Bastøy uprising of February 1915 happened exactly as the film depicts it. The crackdown forced a Norwegian parliamentary inquiry into the institution's conditions. Holst does not sensationalise any of it — he stays close to frozen, frightened kids with nothing left to protect. That restraint is what makes it hit. Stream King of Devil's Island (2010) online on iFILM.
Starring
Comments 0