Based on the true story, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire adapts Billy Moore's memoir 'A Prayer Before Dawn' into an unblinkingly visceral and atmospheric experience.
Living in Bangkok, where he fights bare-knuckle in the local gyms, heroin addict Billy Moore (Joe Cole) is arrested and sent to Klong Prem jail for selling drugs. There, unable to speak the language, it’s a matter of daily survival, as he is forced to live in unimaginable, unsanitary conditions, forever fearful of beatings from guards and other prisoners. It’s only when Billy takes up Muay Thai boxing that he is able to see a way out of this hellish environment.
BBFC Certified 18 - sexual violence, strong bloody violence, drug misuse
★★★★★ "A testosterone-driven narrative that’s about nurturing, rather than destruction. And one that achieves a bleeding-knuckled profundity." - Andrew Lowry, Empire
★★★★ "An intense assault on the senses" - Simran Hans, The Guardian
18
112 minutes
2018
Drama
United Kingdom
English
English
Altitude Films