Picco

This is not at all a movie which is condoning or even celebrating violence, and it is not a trivial story or dialogues at all, it was well researched by the director and (sadly) based on actual events in Siegburg. It cleverly and intensely shows the dynamics of violence, of how sadists start a climate where more peacefully orientated individuals start joining in in order to save themselves - which does not only teach us something about prisons but about human behavior in general. The movie was shown and well-received (with tears, not cheers)/understood/approved in juvenile prison facilities, which shows that it is not unrealistic or meaningless at all. It has the power to raise awareness and to reach people who otherwise never understand the mechanisms and consequences of their own behavior. It is a truly important movie, even if it is (therefore only 9 stars) an unpleasant movie - and this is the only reason for negative reviews: not because it isn't true, but because it actually is true and humans tend to ignore and bury unpleasant truths. A great piece of work.

Picco is the name given to new inmates in a juvenile prison somewhere in Germany. It basically means lackey. The prison is not nice, and the kids are told that they're there for punishment, which I have a problem with straight off, because I don't see how that's a 21st century concept. I have never seen anyone respond positively to punishment, ever. The opening of the film shows a montage of prison graffiti including a slogan, "In this house you have one friend, yourself".

The boys have nothing to do except see a useless psychiatrist and go to church. So the devil makes work for their idle hands. The results of this are not very pleasant to see, and if for example you couldn't take Alan Clarke's Scum (which this is based on), don't go and see it.

I think the film is quite knowing, it recognises for example that psychological pain is just as bad if not more so than the physical version, and even with violence its the psychological context that tends to be the most painful ingredient. Physical pain aside from maiming doesn't last long in the mind, being made small however can last a lifetime. This isn't a reality that the system recognises, and when a group of boys set out to quite literally blow the mind of another boy, it is the victim who is punished when he explodes and has to cope with solitary. Kind of a game.

The authorities aren't all that good at keeping the vulnerable and the aggressive teenagers apart. I think the bullying as well is very realistic. For example a kid who is initially bullied for fun, later becomes bullied because his broken state and weakness is so despicable. It has often been said that public school (dorms and studies) prepare one well for prison life, and actually I was very much reminded of school study experiences watching this movie. I even knew a kid who was tweaking in the way the really dangerous inmates did here, kind of had a permanent testosterone imbalance I presume.

Another thing that the kids know, is that they are write-offs. So what is there left for them to do except extremely nasty things to each other.

Very hard to watch, but raises important points about the purpose of incarceration.

Its based on real events that happens mainly in the prison of siegburg. i live in this city, thats crazy

I know that some people have these compulsions and I get it. But just so you know the violence in prison is nothing like it's depicted in here. It's terrible and brutal but not as fortuitous and casual like here. There is some kind of reason to the madness. This is just cruelty for cruelty's sake.

The technical parts of the movie, for my eyes, are quite good, the actors were convincing and it's based on a real story, which could mean something, but for me the movie was based on free violence and bullying. Hardly got me on anything. Was not pleasant to watch and even though I don't speak German very well and I watched only in German, most of the dialogs were very superficial. No real conflict for me, if the director wanted to raise awareness of the way we deal with the young prisoners, it is quite disappointing. The plot, for its contents and interactions, instead of almost 2h of movie could have been told in 30 minutes. I'm very disappointed with the movie, and feel like there was a complete lack of purpose, if that was intentional or not, I wouldn't recommend it to my friends.