Treatment for: IN THE MOUTH OF THE BEAST.

SHORT TREATMENT/SYNOPSIS – ‘IN THE MOUTH OF THE BEAST’.

A true story of survival in the most sinister prison in Europe: the Carabanchel.
Lone foreigners in a Spanish prison unite against murderous gypsies using violent martial arts and low cunning in order to survive.
Christopher Chance, the last Brit to be held in that infamous Spanish hellhole, gathers around him a band of international villains; men from all around the world who unite, regardless of colour or creed to defend themselves against the constant aggression from mindless psychopaths, gypsies and brutal prison officers.
Chance is ultra-violent in his quest to survive, and teaches his band of brothers the killing and maiming techniques of the ancient martial art of ju-jitsu.
Lone foreigners; men of violence, are drawn to Chance as they witness the terrible strikes and nerve-wrecking locks and chokes he uses to retaliate against his aggressors who are no match against the flint-hearted Anglo-Saxon.
Chance’s gang are invincible in this cauldron of hate and fear; their numbers are few but their strength lies in the loyalty and respect they have for each other, combined with their courage and fighting skills.
Chance is busy forging strong international business contacts and planning further drug trafficking adventures on the high seas with a high-ranking Spanish official and a senior prison officer who make life easier for him: a ruse to gain privileges from his jailers.
They are instrumental in appointing him as the prison martial arts instructor; the most dangerous job in the prison, but one he relishes. This job provides much in the way of privileges alongside danger and intrigue.
His band of brothers, known as the Mezclado, the Spanish word for mixture, are each experienced professional criminals, yet each of them abide by a code of honour and are proud of their professions; an Iranian hit-man, a Mafioso hit-man, a Chinese heroin trafficker, a Trinidadian high seas smuggler and an Afghan Mujahideen warlord, amongst others. They are all very different but gel together to make a most formidable team and a friendship that lasts beyond the closing of the Carabanchel prison in Madrid. Their individual stories unfold as they journey through their sentences in the mouth of the masonry beast called Carabanchel.
The action remains unremittingly confined to the brutal; right from day one when Chance is arrested and pistol-whipped by five secret policemen who handcuff him and then break his nose, ribs and most of his teeth before he enters the Carabanchel prison.
His induction into the prison is heralded by screaming, truncheon wielding prison officers whose hostility continues right up to the final day when he is hauled out of that terrible place and the prison is closed forever and demolished in an effort to erase the national shame of the place. But, like Belsen and Alcatraz, it will never be forgotten, especially by Christopher Chance: the last Englishman to be held in Satan’s arena.
Copyright © Christopher Chance, 2010.