• Release year: 2024
• Director: Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson.
• Producers: Sophie Compton, Polly Creed, Alice Hughes and Tarquin Ramsay.
• Screenplay by: Sophie Compton, Stella Heath Keir and Daisy-May Hudson.
• Cinematography by: Sarah Cunningham.

Shotgun Commentary: good human study of generational and childhood trauma.

Review

Holloway is a documentary feature film in which six ex-prisoners of Holloway (London), once Europe’s biggest prison for women, go back to the now-abandoned prison before it is torn down. The goal is for them to share their experiences there, giving a voice to all the inmates that have gone through their same experience.

Hitting the wrong nail

While the piece is interesting, its marketing is completely wrong. In fact, it could be argued that the name itself is misleading. The documentary talks almost nothing about the prison. Despite the promotion as a documentary about Holloway and the life inside it as a prisoner, this is anything but. Sure, the women used to be inmates there, and they do go back to remember the experiences and the feelings they had while being. However, the documentary is not about that, that is about five to ten minutes. An introduction to a much bigger, broader theme: trauma.

Maybe because of the popularity of said theme, the movie chose to be promoted as the only thing that makes it different: Holloway. The thing is, there is so much more to it. Both generational and childhood trauma has been talked about non-stop in fictional and documentary cinema and series. Every self-respecting show has it regardless of the genre, even if it’s just to give some depth to its characters. Even TV competitions talk about it, which is great in terms of representation and destigmatising mental health. At least in most cases, in others it’s just cheap drama, but it goes on a case by case basis.

Fascinating people

This piece in particular, explores how women end up in jail, quite the mystery unless they are psychopaths. Usually, women are only represented as evil scheming sociopaths or hyper-sexualised psychopaths. But, what about all the women that don’t fit into those stereotypes, how do they end up in jail? Holloway tries to answer that question with an in-depth interview with a few of them about their pasts and the actions that led them to prison.

The results are quite unsurprising, as most of them have the same stories that men of their position do. Broken homes full of violence and abuse are the main theme of their lives. This leads to a chain reaction of horrors that culminates in the inmate life. Sadly, one of the most probable reasons why this documentary, while interesting, is not fascinating, is that the subjects were given the chance to cut out material.

Wrong management

This choice is great, but it doesn’t quite work well content-wise for three reasons. Firstly, there are lots of half-told or omitted stories that would have been interesting to learn from. Secondly, they only talked to these women for a week, presumably for budget reasons. That time is not nearly enough to create a bond of trust, not even with a thousand therapists present. And thirdly, some of the subjects were completely uninterested in being part of the documentary. They are either not willing to talk or more interested in getting screen time rather than offering any relevant information or anecdotes that could help the documentary or represent anyone.

While those attitudes are acceptable, they work against the goals of the documentary. So, with more time to work, those subjects could have been replaced by women more willing to bring something to the discussion rather than just filling chairs.

Incomprehensible format changes

On top of the clearly rushed production, there are some inserts of phone-recorded material whose presence is hard to understand. The content doesn’t bring any information to the feature. Plus, it is barely watchable since the subjects move the camera so much. Why anyone would add that to an otherwise pretty well covered documentary is a mystery.

All in all, Holloway is good, but it’s not about a prison, it is about the reasons that land regular women in jail. It is a necessary work that showcases, once again, that male’s preconceived ideas about women inmates, ideas reinforced by male-directed media, are completely wrong and stereotyped.

Advice to take from this movie:

• One week is not enough if you are hoping to achieve some depth in your content, especially when the subjects have been subjected to so much abuse.
• A therapist won’t make people magically open up and tell you their deepest secrets and regrets.
• People need to be willing to be uncomfortable for this kind of exploration, otherwise they are no good for the piece’s purpose.

What’s your take? Have you watched Holloway? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀