AllMovie

A young man foolishly believes he can navigate the violent world of a top-security prison in this gritty drama from Danish filmmakers Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer. Rune (Pilou Asbæk) is in his early twenties and has been sentenced to a stay in a rough lockup where most of the inmates are hardened criminals with long records. Rune's plan is to remain inconspicuous and avoid any unnecessary contact with the hard core of the prison population, but it isn't long before Rune realizes that's impossible, and in order to save his own skin he joins a gang and does their violent bidding. Rune strikes up a friendship with Rashid (Dulfi Al-Jabouri), a Muslim his own age, and together they learn the nuts and bolts of the prison gang system. After a while, Rune gets cocky and thinks he understands the hierarchy behind bars well enough to make it work in his favor, but his arrogance comes at a high price. R was shot in Denmark's Horsens Prison, which was shut down by the government several months before the filmmakers moved in.