Day 144: "I just wish for once that you could be in my shoes, Mr. Prosecutor, and then you would know something that you don't know: mercy!"

Midnight Express is another one of those critically acclaimed movies that has just seemed to slip out of range of my radar for years.  Not this time!  Like Billy Hayes, I finally caught it (horrible pun, but I couldn't resist).  Based on the memoirs of Billy Hayes, an American citizen caught attempting to smuggle two kilograms of hashish out of Turkey to the United States.  He was brought to a sham of a trial, sentenced to three years for possession, then, with little more than a month to go before his release, the Turkish government decided to make an example of him and change the crime to smuggling, and the sentence to thirty years.  I had heard many things about this movie, mostly good, all warning me about the brutality of the story.  Those people were correct, this is, without a doubt one of the most inhumane stories I have seen.  The violence and inhumanity of the place is not there for shock value, but to convey what this man had to endure for year after year.  Billy Hayes was in no way a saint, but damn....no one deserves to endure what he went through at the hands of his Turkish jailers.

Brad Davis does an extraordinary job portraying Billy Hayes.  I forgot a couple of times that this was not a documentary, and was blown away by his transformation into a man utterly crushed by a corrupt system.  Randy Quaid and John Hurt also appear as fellow inmates, doing magnificent jobs themselves.  Looking at the sets and surroundings of the prisoners, it was easy to see how they could so thoroughly throw themselves into their roles.  Paul Smith plays the sadistic warden Hamidou with such gusto that I had difficulty remembering that he was also Bluto in Popeye and The Beast Rabban in Dune.  Both other roles were evil and sadistic as well, but there was a humorous side to both that is nowhere to be found in Midnight Express.

From the unforgettable, synthesized soundtrack, to the story, to the acting, Midnight Express is a magnificent film, and one not to be missed.  I will warn you that there is not a lot of "feel-good" moments in here, and even visits from family and friends is disturbing to watch.  Check it out, it's definitely worth it.  9/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!