R (2010)

The Danish criminal Rune has to serve two years in “Horsens State Prison,” where some inmates are already waiting for him. They immediately threaten him with violence unless he does certain favors for them. One such favor is to ambush and beat up an Albanian. But after Rune ambushes him in the stairwell and beats him brutally, the reprisals against Rune do not stop. The guards arrest him as a suspect, and he has to spend three days in solitary confinement. But he keeps quiet and reveals nothing—not that he was the one who carried out the assault, nor who ordered it. Even afterward, little changes for him, and the inmates humiliate and harass him. He does not fight back and becomes a patient servant to Carsten and “Mureren” (called “The Mason” in the German dub). While working in the kitchen, he meets Rashid, a young North African man, and after initially keeping their distance, the two become friends. Since Rune also keeps the prison clean as a janitor, one day he finds a way to transport items to the Muslims’ other cell block. Rashid becomes his contact there. And since the guards have put a stop to the drug trade between the Danes and the Muslims, Rune becomes a courier and, in return, secures certain privileges. From then on, Carsten protects him; he gets a better cell, is no longer humiliated, and is allowed to take part in the other inmates’ social activities. But the Muslims, especially Bazhir, a Lebanese man, notice how the two conduct their drug exchanges and bring Rune under their control. Bazhir demands that Rune do business only with him from then on. But after their very first deal, Bazhir refuses to pay, putting Rune under enormous pressure, since he had to guarantee the drugs—or their payment. He now owes the Danes a huge sum of money, because this time he was supposed to smuggle three times the amount. So during recreation time, he goes after Bazhir and demands his money. Bazhir refuses and beats him, with the result that Rune is once again put in solitary confinement. When he gets out, he is, of course, paranoid with fear about what might happen, since he has not managed to get the money for the Danes. But he does not see it coming when his friend Rashid lures him into a trap, where “the Albanian” and “Mureren” beat him and stab him to death. Rashid is then the first to be questioned by the guards. But he says nothing. The other prisoners put pressure on him and threaten him. Some see him as a potential traitor, while others think he has already told them something. But Bazhir brings him back into line and demands that he start smuggling drugs again. After an emotional visit from his family, however, Rashid wants to confess. He goes to guard Kim and says he wants to tell him everything. But Kim does not want to hear it and says Rashid has only three months left and should be patient. Rashid cannot do that, though, and confesses who killed Rune. When Bazhir finds out the next morning, he has Rashid beaten and pours a “morning coffee” over him—a boiling-hot liquid made of olive oil and sugar.