'Escape at Dannemora' Review

Escape at Dannemora is a 7 episode real-life prison escape thriller TV series written by Brett Johnson and Michael Tolkin and directed by Ben Stiller (Night at the Museum). Starring Patricia Arquette as Joyce ‘Tilly’ Mitchell who worked as the manager at the prison sewing shop. Benicio del Toro as Richard Matt and Paul Dano as David Sweat who were lifers at the prison as well as workers at the sewing shop and that’s where the drama starts.

The story was set in 2015 in Clinton Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in upstate New York. The area is so cold in the winter that it got the name ‘Little Siberia’. The opening scene is a walk in the yard where the prisoners have their activity quarters overlooking the vast landscape outside the prison walls which symbolized freedom that they ironically cannot have. In the middle of the frame in the background where Sweat and Matt were chatting about lighting in the dog drawing, lingers the massive heating tower, which later on gives Sweat the clues to their escape route.

Tilly is a middle-aged and undisciplined manager, she is frequently having quickies with Sweat at the tailor room. Rumours spread and subsequently suspicions arise and Sweat is removed from the sewing shop and his nice cell. Tilly is in distress because she could no longer meet up with Sweat, she starts to feel sad and guilty. Then Matt has an escape plan after discovering the catwalk and steps in for Sweat to manipulate Tilly into becoming their accomplice. Tilly is a stupid, greedy and ungrateful old woman who is experiencing a midlife crisis but she has a moron and sucker for a husband which is not helping. So naturally, she is bored, unsatisfied and bitter. She has a track record for infidelity, a taste for excitement and is extremely delusional so she is easily drawn to Matt’s charm and plan. She starts smuggling tools in meat packets for Matt while dreaming of living the high life on the beach with both the inmates in Mexico.

While Matt is drawing, humping and slacking off, Sweat manages to break two walls, cut the pipe on both ends of the exterior prison wall and the two prisoners escape. Tilly was supposed to provide transport for them but she chickened out at the last minute so she fakes a panic attack as her alibi and fails to show up. Instead of driving to West Virginia to lie low, the two men had to escape on foot. They walk into the mountains in order to evade detection and cross to Canada, but that’s where they meet their doom. And it made me think of Shakespeare’s wise words ‘these violent delights have violent ends’.

The film crew had a one day access of the prison yard and shot the scene on real prison ground. Arquette put on weight and had her dentures done for the role of Tilly. The men’s transformations were less dramatic, though Benicio’s makeup artist could have been easier on the hair dye; it was a tad too strong and made him look like an evil Atomic Boy.

The dialogues sounded convincing, the acting was sound for all involved and the storyline was tight. The characters have complex psychological dimensions and they were steadily panned out. Tilly has many personality flaws and these flaws would eventually cause trouble no matter where she was, so prison is a fitting place for someone like her to end up in.

The series may be too long a format for someone with short attention span. However, with some cutting and editing, it would make a good film too. So maybe Ben Stiller should consider making a concentrated distillation of it and release it in film format. Overall, it is a crime thriller that is definitely worth a watch if you are curious as to what on earth happened in that prison, what is wrong with Tilly, and how the two inmates escaped. The series is currently streaming on Now TV.