Chattahoochee

Florida, 1955. After sniping at his neighbours, Korean war vet Foley (Oldman), depressed by debts, unsuccessfully turns the gun on himself. Committed to the maximum-security Chattahoochee hospital for the criminally insane, he finds himself trapped in a nightmare world of squalor, humiliation and sadism. Life's hell; even his wife (McDormand) deserts him while he's inside. But with help from friends - including his sister (Reed) and Hopper's melancholy rapist - Foley gens up on the law and fights the good fight against institutionalised inhumanity. Coming on like a cross between Midnight Express, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Bird Man of Alcatraz, Jackson's well-meaning but clichéd film staggers towards a predictable climax. Hopper simply does what comes easy, Oldman yields to twitchy histrionics, and it's left to Reed to supply a touch of restraint in a small, relatively thankless part.