In short: Wilderness (2006)

Following a suicide in their dorm caused by quite a bit of brutal bullying, a group (among them characters played by Toby Kebbell and Stephen Wight) of juvenile delinquents from an institution badly taking care of violent offenders is sent to an isolated island to learn whatever it is the powers that be believe they can learn there. Since the boys’ only accompaniment is the same guard who already did sod all of use inside (Sean Pertwee), one might be sceptical about the sense of the whole affair. The situation quickly turns out to be even less well thought through than believed, for another institution, this time one for girls, has sent a couple of their inmates (Lenora Crichlow and Karly Greene) and a rather more competent seeming guard (Alex Reid) for a similar outing. Which might lead to the sort of mixer nobody wants.

However, it turns out the two groups have a rather more pressing problem than their own dysfunctionalities and general societal incompetence. A murderous gentleman in a ghillie suit and his attack dogs haunt the island, and he seems to believe there’s hunting season for young offenders and their guards. And because this is a grim and gritty British movie, there’s little hope of the kids coming together instead of apart under pressure.

As the plot should make clear, M.J. Bassett’s Wilderness (last seen here when I talked about Solomon Kane, I believe) is a rather grim little movie whose characterisation ethos seems mostly grounded in ideas coming from British social realism. So there’s a certain hopeless, grimy greyness to emotions and expressions. Nearly every character here is their worst self practically all of the time, which does after a while get a bit tiresome in much the same way a film relentlessly optimistic about human nature can get. To be fair to Bassett, and Dario Poloni’s script, they do take care that character behaviour does make sense and stays coherent – apart from the obvious lead character, the kids do just always make the worst decision for themselves or others they could. It’s not unbelievable given the situation and the lives the characters come from, mind you, just a bit monotonous.

On the other hand, this unrelenting grimness does provide the film with ample opportunity to show kids and Pertwees being killed in pretty gory and gruesome ways. There’s a willingness to go there (where “there” for example means showing Sean Pertwee getting ripped apart by dogs) that’s hard not to admire, an abrasiveness I didn’t necessarily like or love but respect quite a bit. There is something to be said about a film being consistent even when it is the sort of consistency that’s going to make it difficult to market to an audience.