Ghosts… is set in Central Industrial Prison, a privately run maximum security prison in the middle of the Australian desert. An outbreak of violence within the prison has resulted in a total lockdown. A committee is appointed by the prison’s governors to investigate the cause of the outbreak, but their findings are in stark contrast to the facts behind the riot. As the viewers see, both the prisoners and the guards are slowly and deliberately brutalised, manipulated and provoked into the forthcoming eruption of violence, to justify the construction of a new and more “secure” facility. —Wikipedia
John Hillcoat (born 1961) is an Australian screenwriter and film director. Hillcoat was born in Queensland, Australia, and was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. As a child, his paintings were featured in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. He has repeatedly worked with Nick Cave and also the band Depeche Mode. His film The Road, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, and was released in the U.S. in November 2009. —Wikipedia
A beautiful, tragic, and painfully honest look at the nature of the American and Australian prison system. Effectively, "Ghosts..." presents the lack of inquiry by administrative powers, the manipulative and abusive ways of authority figures, and (violently) impressionable role of the criminal. Evidently, abuse and malcontent from either direction propagates itself. Overall, a stark and haunting film.