Reas

Fantasy and fact come together in the Lola Arias’ Reas, which spins a musical drama out of the real experience of female and transgender former prisoners. It shares some DNA with the likes of Phyllida Lloyd’s Julius Caesar, which drew on workshops in Holloway and Hank Rogerson’s Shakespeare Behind Bars, but it is perhaps closest in spirit to Brian Hill’s Feltham Sings and Songbirds, which also brought prisoners’ experience to the screen through music, although Arias’ film is much less wedded to the documentary form.

The non-professional cast means this does feel rough around the edges but, on the other side of the equation, they bring a truthful energy to the screen.

Our guide to the world of Buenos Aires’ Casero prison is Yoseli, a young woman whose dreams of travelling were scuppered when she was caught drug trafficking at the airport. We encounter her as she is being strip searched and assigned a cell, with the action presented in increasingly stylised fashion that emphasises its inherent artifice. Although not shot in Casero (the film was made after these participants were all released), Arias uses a disused jail instead, so that the spectre of incarceration is retained.

Via Yoseli we’ll soon meet transgender man Nacho - who has his own rockband behind bars and with whom she sparks a relationship - along with the rest of the ensemble cast including the band’s singer Estefi, Noe, Paulita and others. It’s quickly apparent that entering prison means becoming part of the collective body that is the prisoner population, with the choreographed movements that accompany the songs reinforcing the sense of synchronicity.

The songs, composed by Ulises Conti, have an upbeat retro Eighties-pop feel although the songs themselves, barring a recurrent theme expressing Yoseli’s dreams, are not especially memorable. The sentiment behind them has power, however, as does the raw energy of the movement that accompanies it, particularly the vogueing competitions we see taking place. You might expect a film about life in jail to be downbeat but thanks to the mixture devised by Arias and her cast, the harsher realities of life on the inside are mixed with a sense of camaraderie and the hopes and expectations of life after release.

Although it isn’t mentioned in the film itself, there is going to be a spin-off play, which will also star Arias’ cast as part of her ongoing commitment to them and their continued reintegration. It’s heartwarming to think of their investment in her idea being fully reciprocated.