John Hillcoat's Ghosts of the Civil Dead Review

A dramatization of actual events with episodic bursts separated with quotes from actual prison documents Ghosts of the Civil Dead tells the story of slow building tensions within an Australian maximum security prison, tension that leads to violence that leads to a lengthy – as in more than three year – lock down that leads to rioting and the wounding or killing of several prison guards. What is clear from early on is that despite the vast range of strong characters at his disposal – several are memorable, particularly Cave himself who chews the scenery as a screaming psychopath who decorates his cell in his own blood after making a late arrival – the real star of this film is the prison itself, or rather the prison system.

From open to close Ghosts of the Civil Dead is a portrait of the prison system itself and the portrait Hillcoat paints is far from pretty. So damning is it, in fact, that the film stirred up considerable controversy on its release, controversy no doubt made all the stronger thanks to Hillcoat’s claims that the basic facts and events of the film are all true. While he makes no attempt to soften his prisoners, no attempt to make them appear sympathetic – these are all bad men who have earned their place in prison – Hillcoat argues forcefully that everyone involved, both prisoners and guards, are little more than cogs in an unfeeling bureaucratic machine callously manipulating their lives for its own ends. Though he starts with the tense energy that comes simply from packing so much potential violence into close quarters he soon moves beyond that, detailing a string of bewildering choices made by an administration that surely must know what they end results of their actions will be, choices seemingly designed to provoke hatred and violence among the inmates while simultaneously emasculating the staff. Hillcoat’s conclusion: correctional services needs people to fear these men to justify their own existence and the best way to stimulate fear is to provoke the worst possible outcome and damn the human consequences. Agree or disagree with Hillcoat’s position it’s hard to deny that this is a remarkably timely conversation to be having, almost as though he foresaw the current state of western politics more than a decade in advance.

As strong as Hillcoat’s film is it is made all the more remarkable by the excellent – and region free - Australian DVD release. While the transfer could be better – it is a little grainy and the print shows some slight damage – the extra features are nothing short of spectacular. The DVD forgoes the normal commentary approach, instead including multiple interviews with all of the key people involved in creating the film including – though not even remotely limited to – Hillcoat and Cave. The advantage to this is immediately apparent. Rather than listening to someone watch the film and simply tell stories the interviews allow for focused discussion of different, vital aspects of the film, allowing the creators to take us through all stages of creation and dig into the meat of the many issues it raises. Beyond that it includes an annotated script, the original research notes, storyboards, a history of festival appearances and the accompanying controversies, an audio essay from a noted Australian film critic, and much, much more. Basically this is a serious film that takes itself seriously, a DVD release that uses the capacity of the medium to further the conversation and take you deeper into the history and issues of the film rather than merely skimming over the surface with a stack of self congratulatory and ultimately pointless features. It’s shocking how seldom films get this sort of treatment and Ghosts of the Civil Dead is very clearly one which deserves it.

This is a film worth recommending on many levels. Well written, shot and performed, this is a film that challenges without forgetting to entertain, a difficult film on some levels but one well worth the effort of unpacking. Hillcoat is a talent that has gone largely unnoticed on these shores but clearly he is worth going back and discovering. Hopefully The Proposition will draw enough attention to encourage more to do just that.