The Introduction Of Belle Reve Penitentiary
Comic book movie fans know Gotham well. Metropolis is familiar territory, and even Arkham Asylum is well-trod ground. So, when the latest DC adaptation opens with a look inside Belle Reve Penitentiary, writer-director David Ayer immediately has our attention.
In the source material, Belle Reve is a site so far off the grid that Amanda Waller selects it as the headquarters for her Task Force X – also known as Suicide Squad. In the movie, it is gloriously rendered in the opening sequence. It is an isolated facility, deep in the swampland of Louisiana, and we are left under no illusion about what happens behind those big, grey walls.
We follow senior prison guard Griggs (Ike Barinholtz) as he leads his team to the holding areas of Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) in turn. Griggs clearly has a marked conflict with Deadshot, and a brief verbal exchange leads to the hitman being held down and mercilessly beaten by a whole group of guards. Griggs then interacts with Harley Quinn, and we see shots of him and his staff force feeding her through a nasal tube. In her cage, she begs for him to “come and play” because she is bored, before we discover that the bars are electrified to keep her away from them.
All of these scenes combine to create a picture of life in Belle Reve Penitentiary – which is vital if we are to care at all about why these characters wish so desperately to get out. It’s not just that they don’t like being incarcerated – it’s that the facility they are locked inside is nightmarish. At the same time, it telegraphs loud and clear just how evil these supervillains are – that they are terrible enough to warrant detention in such a place.
