Midnight Express | REVIEW

Here’s a review all the way back from 1978. If you were born in that year you’d be 30 now. I’m about to review Midnight Express, a film that screened three decades ago and received a majority of positive feedback from movielovers and critics alike. It just goes to show that film withstands the test of time and is appreciated long after its era under the limelight. I wasn’t even born in 1978, yet I’ve seen this movie and I like it quite a bit, even though the cinematography is somewhat out of date and there’s no fancy CGI to aid the visual aspects of it. Sometimes it’s just nice to look at ‘real’ more than ‘implan…..*Ehem, cough*.’ I mean, ‘CGI’.

On October 6, 1970, during his departure from Istanbul, US citizen Billy Hayes is arrested by the Turkish police for trying to smuggle several bricks of hashish taped to his body. His prison sentence spans for four years, despite attempts by his father and his lawyers to bail him out. In prison, Billy is subjected to humiliating brutalities including sexual assault and intense physical torture, not to mention having to put up with a prison informant / worker by the name of Rifki (played by Paolo Bonacelli). I’ve seen evil villains, cruel villains, cunning villains, and lousy villains…but never have I seen a villain / bad guy with a face that I’d like to use as a punching bag. I mean this guy is so f*ckin’ annoying that you just wanna’ gut the dumb b**tard! And I don’t mean I wanna’ gut the actor, I’m saying I feel like effin’ kickin’ Rifki’s jewels up into his throat. You know, I really need meditation lessons. Back to the story. Just when Billy thinks he’s home bound, his sentence is extended to a whopping 30 years by the jurisdiction in Ankara. It’s too much for our hero, and he knows now that his only way out is via the ‘midnight express’. That’s prison slang for ‘escape’. But escaping his far from easy.

Midnight Express is a story based upon the book by Billy Hayes of the same name. Billy Hayes’ book, in fact, is based upon his true life experiences while he was locked away in an Istanbul prison. The book was brought onto the big screen by writer Oliver Stone and director Alan Parker. Although it received critical acclaim in terms of storyline and acting, it was bombarded by Billy Hayes himself for being, to a large extent, inaccurate. The movie deviates from the book's accounts of the story, especially in its portrayal of Turks, to such a level that many have criticized the movie version, including Billy Hayes himself. Later both Oliver Stone and Billy Hayes expressed their regret on how Turkish people were portrayed in the movie. There are plenty of man-on-man sexual-assault scenes in the movie which depict the Turkish police as monsters, whereas there is no account of sexual assault in Billy Hayes’ book. Instead, he actually admits to having consensual sex while in prison. I guess the filmmakers really had to improvise on this bit, because it’s only now that the world is opening up to new norms, whereas a protagonist who willingly has sex with other inmates wouldn’t have set well three decades ago. There are, of course, other issues such as the portrayal of the Turks in Midnight Express which caused the film to receive a lot of criticism. Some call it more of a hate-story. Some call it racist. Some, including Billy Hayes, say that the Turks were made to look like barbarians rather than real people, which according to the author is a very harsh, untrue depiction of them.

The film won Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score (Giorgio Moroder) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Stone). It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Hurt), Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

Although Midnight Express is entirely based in Turkey, the movie was almost entirely filmed in Malta after permission to Istanbul was denied. Some scenes were shot in Libya, while the background scenes of Istanbul were shot by a crew pretending to shoot footage for a cigarette commercial. Talk about taking risks, huh?

I’d say Midight Express is a pretty decent film and is a must-watch for people who enjoy rich storytelling and good acting. But for those who just want casual films and nothing heavy, Midnight Express may not be the best thing to put in the DVD player. It’s very heavy with a lot of emotion. You can just feel the weight of the emotion gripping onto the film. It relates to a person’s worst fears; stuck in a foreign prison so far away from family and friends, a foreign culture with alien-like law and order, slapped with a 30-year sentence in a place that is hellish in nature (as depicted in the film, of course). Alan Parker does a great job directing and Brad Davis just blends as Billy Hayes, which makes the movie all the more powerful. Plus, there are supporting roles by Randy Quaid and John Hurt. Although most of the movie is powerful, some of the cinematic energy from back then has changed, turning serious scenes into hilarious ones. The following scene may be a bit spoiler-ish, but I’m going to go ahead and describe it anyway. Billy’s girlfriend comes to visit him in prison after a couple of years, and since there’s no porn in prison, Billy’s more interested in what’s underneath her dress than her face. Instead of getting mushy, Billy gets straight to the point and asks her to unbutton her top. So she does, crying at the state her now extremely horny her boyfriend is in, and actually presses her left breast onto the glass barrier that divides the inmates from the visitors. And our friend Billy is trying his level best to get a hold of it, while she keeps pressing herself onto the glass harder! *Guys, stop touching yourselves, please….for Pete’s sake! This isn’t the erotic fanfiction section, alright?* What I’m trying to get as is that, while this may have been an extremely sexy scene back then, it transcends as effin’ hilarious in the modern day! I couldn’t help myself from laughing and rolling on the floor. I laughed so hard that my ribs were aching and I felt my belly, *cough*, I mean abs, splitting in half! Not only did this scene look too dramatic for its own good, it was also spoofed in Cable Guy, in which Jim Carrey does exactly what Billy’s girlfriend does in this scene! And I watched Cable Guy first so you can imagine my reaction. So yes, you may have a good time watching this and it’s heavy, sure, but this one scene is enough to turn this flick inside out, upside down, and before the end you’ll probably find all the heaviness gone because you’ve laughed your ass off.

Go watch Midnight Express. No, not for the Cable Guy-spoof scene, but for the quality of the film. Old movies have a certain quality that is sometimes missing in modern-day flicks. I’m not saying I don’t like new movies, in fact I love them more, but you can sense the passion in the filmmaker by watching movies like Midnight Express. And although it was way before my time, I enjoyed it. Not a casual watch, for sure. It requires some patience and focus in order to be enjoyed to its fullest potential.
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Wrap : I give Midnight Express a 4.0 out of 5.0. Some of the film’s initial impact is lost over time as the style of filming grows old. It’s still a very nice movie and it is a must-watch for movielovers.

P.S : I guess those of you who like the TV series Prison Break will enjoy Midnight Express. I heard somewhere that Midnight Express is what inspired the hit TV series. Not sure if that's true, searched around but couldn't find confirmaion.