MovieChat Forums > Brokedown Palace (1999) Discussion > How long were they in prison?

How long were they in prison?

posted 16 years ago by kparker_7
3 replies | jump to latest

I just watched the movie again on tv, and although I have seen it several times, I never was able to tell how long they were actually imprisoned by the end of the movie. The amount of time that passes between arrest and trials and whatnot isn't really shown, but I'm assuming it wasn't a quick process. What really made this apparent to me was when their friends came to visit them and they asked them if they still hung out together and the friends said they only saw each other at Christmas and Spring Break. Does this mean that they were there for over a year over the course of the movie?

[–] iloveeg 16 years ago

i have wondered this same thing myself. it seems like at least a year? maybe even 1-1/2 or 2? does anyone know?

also, does anyone know if this was based or inspired by a true story? (i know it's supposed to be fiction, but i know that these type of things can and do happen. i wondered if it bore any similarity to a particular/specific real-life situation...)

[–] tom_niles 16 years ago

There are a number of cases similar to the one portrayed in the movie; the most notable of which is of Patricia Cahill and Karen Smith, two english girls who went to Thailand, telling their parents they went to Scotland. They met a handsome stranger who gave them some bottles of shampoo, which they were slightly suspicious of, but brought on anyways. They got caught and were sentenced, but were released.

[–] dim_sumus 14 years ago

Good question. It's definitely established that their friends are off to college now. But, how long? It's very difficult to know. We do know that Alice speaks Thai well by the end of the movie. But, she makes a comment to Yankee Hank that her high school language teacher considered her a fast learner. Like several things in this movie, things are kept vague.