Behind the Wire (2010)

This film tells of young lives in the Cesis ( Latvia) young offenders unit, which is governed by its own codes and  its own order. Where unwritten rules are more powerful than the written word. In the making of "Behind The Wire" the production team witnessed  a gamut of attitudes and emotions. Much can be understood from the youth's gestures, from facial expressions and from their actions. Secretive, uncommunicative; victims yet perpetrators of crime. But, still children. The largest part of the film has been based on the visual narration and interviews, on the everyday life of  Guntars Stefans (18). Boys have been portrayed in everyday situations. Such as meals, school, leisure time. Each of them have problems with family members, most of them are not visited by parents at all. Even though Guntars Stefans is trying to communicate with other guys, nobody trusts him and relationships are tough. He has been izolated from others, because others are threatening him physically and morally. His only chance to escape from institution and conflicts is to be transferred to adult prison in Latvia. He hopes to find there more peace, trust and people who are going to become his friends. Even we all can predict it’s naive.

One of the his dreams in freedom is to countinue to develop his musical talent. Intentionally we haven’t used composer, only natural sounds, environment and sometimes Guntars singing, it adds more feeling to the space. With this movie we would like to encourage people to pay attention to these young criminals, indicate on their age and tough family problems, lack of attention, love and sympathy. 

They will serve their sentence and have got enough moral and physical punishment.

Keywords: crime | noored kohtualused | prison | View all »