Prison drama is a brutally raw tale

“Starred Up” is a brutal, riveting film about prison society and the legacy of rage. Ben Mendelsohn and Jack O’Connell give extraordinary performances as a father and son who essentially meet for the first time in a British prison.

Mendelsohn is a lifer and O’Connell has just been transferred in from a juvenile facility because of his uncontrollable violence.

The title is slang for placing an underage prisoner into a jail full of adults. That phrase and other plot subtleties may be lost on American audiences struggling with the film’s yob dialect.

The raw emotions on display need no translation. David Mackenzie directs the film in a piercingly realistic style. His ingenious decision to forgo a score makes “Starred Up” even more immersive, because all you hear is the dehumanizing din of prison.

There’s a fascinating subplot about a prisoners’ anger management group led by a volunteer therapist (strikingly depicted by “Homeland’s” Rupert Friend). The inmates (including David Ajala and Anthony Welsh) learn to sit with their feelings rather than spontaneously lash out.

This is a stark and unsettling prison film in the vein of 2009’s “A Prophet.” At its heart is an absolutely toxic father-son relationship. But the bond between them, while twisted, is monstrously strong.