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\n\tThemes of guilt, punishment and redemption are common currency in prison dramas, but Petra Volpe\u2019s terrific Frank & Louis<\/em> looks at the issue from entirely unexpected and wholly moving perspective. The follow-up to the hospital-set Berlinale hit Late Shift<\/em> \u2014 submitted by Switzerland as its International Oscar hope this year \u2014 Volpe\u2019s new film is another treatise on caring for the vulnerable and the toll it can take. The institution this time, however, is an American correctional facility, and the focus of the story is the relationship that forms between two Black criminals, both convicted of serious crimes.<\/p>\n \n\tThe start of the film sees Frank Baker (Kingsley Ben-Adir) being brought by transfer to a new prison, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and ankle chains. Little things tell you that Frank has been in the system for a while, like the little privileges he gets \u2014 an extra roll of toilet paper \u2014 when checking in. Frank unpacks with military precision and quickly makes the spartan space his own; neat but unfussy. Now in his 40s, Frank has been in prison for almost his whole adult life, spending 17 years in solitary for assaulting two of his fellow inmates. One gets the sense that that Frank is long gone, a suspicion confirmed when he is interviewed for a position on the medical wing.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAre you patient?\u201d Frank is asked, and though he seems to have worked through his old anger problems, it\u2019s certainly possible that he\u2019s underestimating his capacity to deal with what\u2019s about to happen: he\u2019s signing up to help with patients suffering with dementia. \u201cYou need to be pretty sure you can handle it,\u201d he is told, and the first day does not go well. Frank is assigned to Louis Nelson (Rob Morgan), a once fierce and feared inmate who aggressively refuses his help, yelling, \u201cGet out of my cell!\u201d when Frank enters. Frank is daunted and steps back, but the other staffers pull him up. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to engage<\/em>,\u201d says one.<\/p>\n \n\tLouis\u2019s behavior is puzzling to the inmates, who think of dementia as the last stop before death (\u201cHe ain\u2019t even that old\u2026\u201d). But the closer he gets to him, Frank begins to see what\u2019s going on; Louis\u2019s mind is slowly disintegrating, and the increasingly infrequent bouts of lucidity just reinforce how quickly it\u2019s happening. Louis is not the only one; his Puerto Rican colleague Julian (Ren\u00e9 P\u00e9rez Joglar) looks after a white supremacist whose latent racism explodes from time to time Julian takes this abuse in his stride. \u201cLittle by little, there will be nothin\u2019 left up there,\u201d he explains, tapping his head. \u201cNot even the hate.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith this one line, Julian neatly summarizes the direction Volpe\u2019s film is about to take. Given its set-up, one might think that this will be a film about toxic masculinity, using Black crime as a petri dish. That\u2019s certainly a topic that\u2019s up for discussion and is raised by Frank\u2019s conviction \u2014 for killing a man while taking part as an accomplice in an armed robbery \u2014 at the age of 18. But as he cares for Louis, Frank begins to see himself in the increasingly vulnerable older man, whose condition makes him an easy target for revenge attacks.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat Frank sees happening to Louis is what makes this insightfully scripted and perfectly acted two-hander so special. He realizes that Louis no longer knows where he is and why he\u2019s there, and that, at some later point, he will be packed off to a lonely death in a care home. But right now, he is in limbo \u2014 unaware of his crime, unaware of his guilt \u2014 and Volpe\u2019s film rather brilliantly explores the consequences of that. Dementia is the ultimate in solitary confinement, and Frank sees this in Louis, always waiting for a visit from his daughter, always waiting for letters that never come. What kind of a life is that?<\/p>\n \n\tThings come to a head for Frank when he finally gets his parole hearing and is shamed by the impact statement given by his victim\u2019s daughter. Frank has always claimed diminished responsibility for his actions, but, seeing what\u2019s happening to Frank, Louis begins to understand a thing or two about the dangers of denial in the most extreme way imaginable. The payoff is bleak but not entirely without hope and leaves the viewer with a moral maze to find their way out of, if an exit even exists. Is a man still morally guilty if his mind is empty? Can he be punished if he doesn\u2019t know what the punishment is and what it\u2019s for? Frank & Louis<\/em> is the movie equivalent of Gil Scott-Heron\u2019s haunting song \u201cPieces of a Man\u201d; one of the best new films at Sundance and one of the best of the year so far.<\/p>\n \n\tTitle:<\/strong> Frank & Louis
Festival:<\/strong> Sundance (Premieres)
Sales:<\/strong> TrustNordisk
Director:<\/strong> Petra Biondina Volpe
Screenwriters:<\/strong> Petra Biondina Volpe, Esther Bernstorff
Cast:<\/strong> Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rob Morgan, Ren\u00e9 P\u00e9rez Joglar, Rosalind Eleazar, Indira Varma
Running time:<\/strong> 1 hr 35 mins<\/p>\n<\/div>\n