[wp-review id=”96702″]
British national Billy Moore has moved to Thailand and works as a boxer/stuntman. While there, he gets mixed up in drug use and is arrested for theft as well as possession. He is sentenced to a Thai prison where he is exposed to more drugs and poor treatment. While inside, he works to earn his freedom and beat his addiction by becoming a Muay Thai fighter.
A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN is directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. He has done one other feature film and a number of short films. This movie is based on the book A Prayer Before Dawn: My Nightmare in Thailand’s Prisons by Billy Moore. The film is really good with very little dialogue so most of the story is conveyed through visuals. Joe Cole plays Billy Moore and this might be the best role that I’ve seen him in to date. You can really feel his pain from the beatings that he takes both physically and emotionally.
VIDEO QUALITY:
The video is a 1080p AVC presentation that has both a crisp and gritty picture. The dank prison and training areas look grimy to give a feel of the environment that Moore had to live in for a time. In both the close up and wider shots, you can see the small bruises, cuts, and other injuries on the fighters. Tattoos are also highly detailed. There is a greenish yellow hue on the entire movie that it barely affects the skin tones but stands out against white tile or shot of the sky. The blacks are deep and create some superb contrasting.
AUDIO QUALITY:
The audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that brings a lot of the nasty hits and gruesome punches right in your face. Some of the fighting feels very realistic with some of the squishy sound effects. The echoing in the same areas as well as the people in the backgrounds gives the surround speakers plenty of use. Large crowds also give the same effects in the rear speakers.
SUPPLEMENTS & PACKAGING
-Locked Inside the Walls: Making A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN: This nice sized featurette shows a decent amount about making the film.
-Billy Moore: In His Own Words: This is an interview with the real Billy Moore while the movie was in its last week of production.
Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
Digital copy
Running Time
117 mins
Edition Ratings
Rated R
Region Coding
Region A
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH
Spanish
THE BOTTOM LINE:
A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN is one of those films that has that realism that makes you forget it’s a film. The fights feel more visceral and very in your face. The acting is so genuine that you can practically feel Billy’s hurt. The video is extremely good and the audio is right up there with it. The extras are a little light but they give some good insight into the character as well as the film. I highly recommend checking out this one for yourself. It is worth a watch.
