The 2017 biographical film “A Prayer Before Dawn” by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire is now available on Prime Video and is one of the greatest smaller international films I discovered that year.
It is based on the experiences of British Billy Moore, a drug-addicted Muay Thai boxer who lives in Thailand and is jailed for drug dealing. There he has to find his way through a brutal everyday life and fights for recognition as a boxer.
The film focuses on a natural style of acting and camera work and creates an authentic prison world with the detail of the language barrier between Billy and the other inmates, who speak only Thai.
Impressive naturalistic underdog arthouse film.
