By: Andrew Wing

7 Prisoners (Portuguese: 7 Prisioneiros) is a 2021 Brazilian drama film directed by Alexandre Moratto from a screenplay by Moratto and Thayná Mantesso. The film stars Christian Malheiros (known for his award-winning performance in the 2018 film Sócrates) and Rodrigo Santoro (300, Lost, Westworld).

The film follows the 18-year-old Mateus (Malheiros), who accepts a job in a junkyard in São Paolo to provide a better life for his family in the country. However, because of his new boss, Luca (Santoro), he becomes trapped in the dangerous world of human trafficking.

The film premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 6, 2021, and was released on Netflix in November 2021.

THE GOOD

The more I get into the world of film, the more I regularly keep track of films that premiere at fall festivals like 7 Prisoners did at Venice. If a movie is presented at a fall festival, odds are it is pretty good and those backing the film believe it has awards chances. And while 7 Prisoners didn’t get a nomination for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards like it had hoped because of other good foreign films I’ve reviewed like Flee (see my full review here), The Hand of God (see my full review here), and the winner of the category, Drive My Car (see my full review here), I still wanted to check it out because it’s a free movie that is a Netflix original. So without further ado, it is time to see if 7 Prisoners was one of the best foreign films of 2021 and it didn’t get the love it deserved, or if it was rightfully excluded from being one of the five films nominated. Keep reading to find out!

I’ll start with Alexandre Moratto. I was impressed by his direction because he really lays the groundwork for the film from the opening scene. It was perfect because in only two minutes you understand this character’s relationship with their family and how much he wants to help out his mother. The screenplay follows a group of boys in Brazil who leave their families to work in the city and they soon realize they’re being exploited. With this and all of the problems that come to the surface in the film, I liked that the film doesn’t present any easy answers to these problems that ravage our world because there clearly is no easy answer. You really come to understand how someone can be absolutely trapped in a system like that and the film as a whole was really harrowing and tragic. All in all, this film shows you there are only victims in situations like this. Nonetheless, we get a gripping story from start to finish because it has that extremely real feel to it. You are glued to the screen from start to finish as you watch these characters that are determined to do something about this despite how impossible it seems, and that’s a big testament to the director and his co-writer for the screenplay.

I forgot to mention that the film is also produced by Fernando Meirelles, the man who co-produced one of the best films of the 21st century, City of God. Similar to that film, this film is also a social realist thriller that examines problems that poor people face and I loved the film’s message. This film tackles a very real issue that in a way is weird to feel thrilled about, but I think it works in the context because you’re rooting for the underdog to succeed in a world where everything is stacked against them. The movie also exposes some of the human traffickings that happens all over the world and highlights the way in which this system works and you kind of learn about that more and more the deeper you go into this movie. It was just a really well-written film because you understand what the characters are up against and I had no idea where the film was going to go and how they were going to get out of this situation. I never felt like I was a step ahead of this character because even though the film gets going very quickly, it gave me everything I needed right from the jump.

Speaking of these characters, let’s talk about some standout performances. All of the performances were very good and all the characters ultimately came from the same place of trying to claw their way up. The writers also do such a good job at showing the moral dilemma going on here between the characters, and I think that helped the performances. But anyway, I’ll just start with who I thought had the best performance and that was Rodrigo Santoro. He was the villain in the story and I honestly liked how they painted him to be despicable because he was the one more willing to take opportunities when he was presented with them. His performance was very impressive and I believed everything about his character who was this truly terrible guy who’s a monster. I also thought Christian Malheiros was superb in the lead role as Mateus. He really has a field day in this film as he shows a wide range of emotions and he took it to a whole new level.

Before finishing up, I just need to highlight some other things I liked about 7 Prisoners. One thing I liked was the editing. There was not a minute of this movie where I wasn’t just glued to the screen and that’s a credit to the film’s fantastic editing. I also loved the cinematography here. It’s nothing crazy, but it's still a very good-looking film. Some of the shots felt confined and it added to the fact that you are solely focused on one person’s journey through the system, but it also did a good job with some of the shots of the city. These shots effectively established how big of a city this is taking place in. It shows Brazil as this industrializing nation which is a very important part of the context as to why these sorts of things even happen in the first place. It happens in environments where industrialization is ever-present and you really get the sense of how this exploitation happens just from the cinematography.

THE BAD

The film is a good one overall, but I just have a couple of problems with the movie. The first problem is that some things I wanted to happen just didn’t and I think they should have. With a film like this where you don’t know what’s going to happen as you get deeper into it, it’s only natural for you as a viewer to want the characters to do something and there were a couple of times throughout where what I wanted to happen didn’t and that was a bummer. At the same time, I get why they couldn’t and didn’t do it, but I think I’m allowed to be disappointed.

Going off that, the end definitely left me feeling conflicted about how this story was resolved. It’s just with a movie like this you know you’re going to get a conflicting ending but this wasn’t conflicting really in the ways that I wanted it to be. I just didn’t like the ending, I think it was going for something thought-provoking and I’m sure others will be fine with it, but it, unfortunately, didn’t get the job done for me. Lastly, and I know I highlighted Moratto and I did deservingly so, but I did sense a lack of ambition with this one. Everything worked and it’s a Netflix film, so I shouldn’t be complaining, but I really do think this movie would have been great if it went all in, rather than just being good.

THE VERDICT

Despite an ending that I wanted more from, 7 Prisoners is a thought-provoking thrill ride that takes a deep look at exploitative labor and the problems it causes. It is an important film that should be watched, and it helps that you will be enthralled from start to finish due to gripping performances from Christian Malheiros and Rodrigo Santoro. It is an easy movie to recommend and I really don’t see anyone not liking this.