{{short description|1980 film directed by Oswaldo de Oliveira}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Bare Behind Bars | image = Bare behind bars.jpg | alt = A Prisão (Brazil)<br>Desnuda Tras las Rejas (Mexico)<br>Mädchen schutzlos hinter Gittern (West Germany) | director = Oswaldo de Oliveira | producer = Alexandre Adamin<br>Antonio Polo Galante | writer = Oswaldo de Oliveira | starring = Maria Stella Splendore<br>Marta Anderson<br>Danielle Ferrite<br>Neide Ribeiro<br>Márcia Fraga | music = Estudios Galante | cinematography = Oswaldo de Oliveira | editing = Gilberto Wagner | studio = Ao Lixao Comercio de Moveis Ltda.<br>Galante Filmes | released = {{Film date|1980|df=y}} | runtime = 87 minutes (Netherlands)<br>95 minutes (USA) | country = Brazil | language = Portuguese<br>English dub }}
'''''Bare Behind Bars''''' (released in Brazil as '''''A Prisão''''') is a 1980 sexploitation film directed and written by Oswaldo de Oliveira. The film, which was intended as a spoof of the common "women in prison" genre, stars Maria Stella Splendore, Marta Anderson and Danielle Ferrite. The story concerns a group of lesbian inmates who are sexually abused by a sadistic female prison warden. The film features gratuitous nudity and sex scenes.<ref name="bbfc.co"/><ref name="lugos 2008"/>
==Plot== In a women's prison in Brazil, the inmates are young and beautiful, the warden is a sadist, all but one of the guards are cruel, and the nurse is incompetent. To make it difficult for the inmates to hide contraband, they wear no underwear. They are alternately murderous and orgiastic with each other, and they engage in sex play with some of the guards. The warden pimps out inmates to wealthy lesbians. With the help of the nurse and under the cover of Carnival, three inmates stage an escape. But once out they contrive to stay undiscovered as the authorities close in.
==Cast== *Maria Stella Splendore as Sylvia – the prison warden *Marta Anderson as Barbara – the insane nurse *Danielle Ferrite as Cynthia – Prisoner #341 *Neide Ribeiro as Sandra – the assistant warden *Márcia Fraga *Serafim Gonzalez *Meiry Vieira as Regular customer *Sonia Regina *Marliane Gomes *Nadia Destro
==Release== The film was banned by BBFC in the United Kingdom after independent film distributor Redemption Films attempted to distribute the film in 1994.<ref name="dean 1997"/><ref name="lamberti 2019"/> Redemption Films challenged the decision in court the following year, arguing that "the BBFC was neither fair nor consistent in its approach when classifying the video."<ref name="hague 1995"/> It was the first time in 84 years that film censorship in Britain was "exposed to court scrutiny."<ref name="matthews 1996"/> Nigel Wingrove, the founder of Redemption, said he spent $25,000 in his fight to get the film released.<ref name="matthews 2000"/> He also opined, "the bottom line is that most people don't give a damn about censorship; nobody cares whether you went to court to fight for a film like ''Bare Behind Bars''.<ref name="matthews 2000"/>
==Home media== An uncut version of the film was released on video in 1997 in the United States by Redemption Films.<ref name="charles 1996"/> It was released on DVD by Blue Underground on 30 May 2006.<ref name="weinberg 2006"/>
==Reception== Scott Weinberg from DVD Talk wrote "this is an astonishingly bad piece of grindhouse filmmaking ... a series of painful and dingy sequences of sex and humiliation than anything resembling an actual story, the film parades its requisite components with an assembly-line regularity: evil she-bitch lesbian wardens, virginal newcomers experiencing their first tastes of reluctant cunnilingus, whips, shackles, sex slaves, brutal brawls, a few large tables you'd never want to eat off of, and a gaggle of freaky naked ladies."<ref name="weinberg 2006"/>
Author Alison Darren said "sleazy and unremitting, this exploitation film is distinguished from the usual doss by its wit and lack of pretension."<ref name="darren 2000"/> Film critic Antônio Da Silva opined that "although intended to titillate – and it does – the film touches on important social issues, but lacks a consistent plot."<ref name="silva 2013"/> The ''Sleazoid Express'' stated "the south of Tijuana approach of the film makes it not the most appetizing empinada in the WIP universe; it doesn’t have much in clever kinks, narrative twists, or attractive and charismatic actresses."<ref name="landis 2003"/>
Film critic Raymond Murray wrote "this poorly made soft–core women in prison sex–and–flesh-filled exploitation flick has little going for it except that it is, without a doubt, the most lesbian–oriented (at least sexually graphic) of the all the WIP films; nearly every woman in the film has sex with another woman; it's trash...amusing lesbian trash."<ref name="murray 1996"/>
==See also== {{Portal|Film|Brazil|LGBTQ}} *Cinema of Brazil *List of Brazilian films of 1980 * Film censorship in the United Kingdom * List of films banned in the United Kingdom *List of LGBTQ-related films of 1980 *List of feature films with lesbian characters *Women-in-prison film
==References== <references>
<ref name="bbfc.co">{{Cite web |author=BBFC|title=Bare Behind Bars|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bare-behind-bars-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmda2ndm|access-date=1 September 2025|website=British Board of Film Classification}}</ref>
<ref name="charles 1996">{{cite news |last1=Charles |first1=John |title=Redemption Comes to USA |work=Video Watchdog |department=Watchdog News |issue=31 |date=1996 |page=6}}</ref>
<ref name="darren 2000">{{cite book | last=Darren | first=Alison | title=Lesbian Film Guide | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | date=2000 | isbn=978-1-4411-8364-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCzGrV7CCbsC&pg=PA18 | page=18}}</ref>
<ref name="dean 1997">{{cite magazine |last1=Dean |first1=Peter |title=Strict Standards Keep British Videos Clean and Censors Busier Than Ever |magazine=Billboard Magazine |date=24 May 1997 |volume=109 |issue=21 |pages=87; 89}}</ref>
<ref name="hague 1995">{{cite news |last1=Hague |first1=Helen |title=Videos Firm To Challenge Censors |work=The Independent |date=18 November 1995 |page=11}}</ref>
<ref name="lamberti 2019">{{cite book | last=Lamberti | first=Edward | title=Behind the Scenes at the BBFC: Film Classification from the Silver Screen to the Digital Age | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | date=2019 | isbn=978-1-83871-448-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Aj8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT455 | page=455}}</ref>
<ref name="landis 2003">{{cite news |last1=Landis |first1=Bill |last2=Clifford |first2=Michelle |title=A Third World Empinada |url=https://archive.org/details/sleazoid-express/page/54/mode/2up |work=Sleazoid Express |issue=6 |date=2003 |page=54}}</ref>
<ref name="lugos 2008">{{Cite web|last=Lugosi|first=Boris|date=15 June 2000|title=Bare Behind Bars (1980)|url=https://girlsgunsandghouls.com/barebehindbars.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720085344/https://girlsgunsandghouls.com/barebehindbars.html|archive-date=20 July 2008 |url-status=live|access-date=1 September 2025|website=Girls, Guns and Ghouls}}</ref>
<ref name="matthews 2000">{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Tom Dewe |title=And I'd Also Like To Thank The Censors |work=The Independent |date=14 April 2000 |page=12}}</ref>
<ref name="matthews 1996">{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Tom Dewe |title=Visions of Redemption |work=The Independent |date=27 March 1996 |page=7}}</ref>
<ref name="murray 1996">{{cite book | last=Murray | first=Raymond | title=Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video |chapter=Of Lesbian Interest | publisher=Plume Books | publication-place=New York | date=1996 | isbn=0-452-27627-6 | page=333}}</ref>
<ref name="silva 2013">{{cite book |author=Da Silva, Antônio M. | editor-last1=Pinazza | editor-first1=Natalia | editor-last2=Bayman | editor-first2=Louis | title=World Film Locations: São Paulo | publisher=Intellect Books | date=2013 | isbn=978-1-78320-115-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rwLsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 | page=22}}</ref>
<ref name="weinberg 2006">{{cite web |last1=Weinberg |first1=Scott |title=Bare Behind Bars |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21949 |website=DVD Talk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523210342/https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21949 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |date=30 May 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>
</references>
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0171089}} *[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bare_behind_bars ''Bare Behind Bars''] at Rotten Tomatoes *[https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film608338.html ''Bare Behind Bars''] at Filmaffinity
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Category:1980 films Category:Sexploitation films Category:Women in prison films Category:Brazilian LGBTQ-related films Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in film Category:Obscenity controversies in film Category:1980s erotic drama films Category:1980s exploitation films Category:Brazilian erotic drama films Category:1980 drama films Category:1980 Brazilian films Category:1980 LGBTQ-related films Category:1980s prison films Category:Films set in São Paulo