To picture how hard your system will be hit by the outstanding prison drug epic 10 Kilos, directed by Doron Eran, imagine Midnight Express and Scarface sharing the same prison cell in a women’s prison in Bolivia, and you have been invited. Avi Amir and Omar Rose wrote the screenplay inspired by the true story of Sharon Yitzhaki from her bestselling book. In 1996, Sharon Yitzhaki (Daniella Kertesz), a young American/Israeli woman, has fled Jerusalem to be on holiday in Bolivia with her new lover, Roni (Tom Graziani). After an afternoon of lovemaking in their hotel, Roni lets Sharon know he has to meet with someone on some business and he will be right back. Sharon sits in the room, waiting for hours, but Roni doesn’t come back or answer his phone. The next morning, Sharon gets a visit from the police, who find ten kilos of cocaine in the room that she had no idea about.
“The next morning, Sharon gets a visit from the police, who find ten kilos of cocaine in the room that she had no idea about.”
She is charged with smuggling and is accused of being a member of the La Paz drug cartel. She denies it all, but Roni is nowhere to be found, and she can’t prove he even existed, as the police burn her only photo of them together. While awaiting trial, she is locked up in Miraflores, the nastiest women’s prison in Bolivia. On her first day, she is taken to a secret room by inmate Amparo (Luna Mansour), who lets her know she is the cellblock enforcer. There, Sharon is stripped, has her hands tied behind her back, and is electrocuted in a shower. Sharon’s cellmates are the transsexual Terry (Leeoz Levy) and junkie Diane (Maya Eshet), who has a pet rabbit, Pepe. The media is all over Sharon’s story, which is of concern to the La Paz cartel that Sharon is falsely accused of being a member of. The cartel head, Amadeo DeSoto (Juan Pablo Olyslager), reaches out to his sicario inside the prison, Donna Maucha (Paola Tirado), to determine what to do about the famous inmate.
Holy Cow, Sharon Yitzhaki makes Batman look like a p***y. If you don’t know this woman’s story, don’t look it up before you see 10 Kilos. And you will see 10 Kilos, because director Eran has made a f*****g magnificent movie. The first major move Eran made to knock this out of the park is give us at least three movies in one. On first blush, 10 Kilos seems like the classic prison movie, with the unjustly accused having to go through undeserved ordeals. This brings up a lot of strong emotional reactions, along with a burning frustration over the constant injustice on display. But then there is an unexpected catharsis, as the audience finds themselves in the middle of a gangster movie. After all that s**t comes down on Sharon, Sharon turns around and starts giving the s**t some real s**t back.
"…a triple decker cinematic roller coaster that knocks the stars out of the sky."
