Les magiciens d'"Oz"

J'ai découvert récemment une série américaine en DVD qui s'appelle "Oz". Rien à voir avec un univers féérique puisque c'est le diminutif de Oswald Penitentiary Institution, une prison américaine où sont envoyés les prisonniers les plus durs. Au sein de cet établissement, le surveillant en chef (Tim McManus) tente une expérience : recréer une "ville" dans la prison où les prisonniers pourraient réapprendre à vivre en société. Il est clair que ce ne sera pas de tout repos. C'est violent, cruel, très politiquement incorrect mais brillant, excellentissimement joué et remarquablement bien écrit (cf. quelques extraits de dialogue plus bas extrait du site imdb). La population carcérale est divisée en clans : les Nazis (les blancs racistes), les Noirs junkies, les Noirs musulmans, les mafieux (italiens) et les Irlandais, sans oublier le clan des surveillants de prison dont les moeurs et habitudes sont quelquefois difficilement distinguables de ceux des prisonniers....L'histoire de chaque épisode est commenté par l'un des prisonniers, Augustus Hill, handicapé à la suite de brutalités policières, de manière particulièrement percutante, ironique ou absurde (un type d'expression très rare dans les séries américaines...). La série se positionne très clairement contre la peine de mort. Il y a aussi de très bons moments comiques notamment la scène inoubliable du dentiste de la prison qui doit retirer une dent à un prisonnier qui a mangé ses victimes.

Leo Glynn: Hey, Tim, want to grab some dinner?
Tim McManus: Appreciate it, Leo. I can't.
Leo Glynn: Too much work to do, right? You can take a break from saving the world. Even Jesus had supper. Tim McManus: Yeah, and right afterwards he was betrayed and crucified.
Leo Glynn: I'll try not to take that personally.

Donald Groves: [gives Alvarez a stamp] Here.
Miguel Alvarez: I don't wanna write anybody a fucking letter. I wanna get fucking high.
Donald Groves: You lick the back. It's liquid LSD.
Miguel Alvarez: Groves, this gives stamp collecting a whole new meaning, baby

Vernon Schillinger: So the state's gonna let Keane choose which way he's gonna go out. Me, I'd take hanging.
Mark Mack: What about lethal injection?
Vernon Schillinger: That's for pussies.
Donald Groves: They say that lethal injection causes no pain. How do they know? Did someone come back from the dead and say they didn't feel anything?

Tim McManus: You say you've changed. Why should I believe you?
Vern Schillinger: Trust me, McManus, you lose an eye, you get kicked in the balls, you get a face full of shit, you become a different man.

Beecher: You've got to transfer me to another cell block.
Tim McManus: All the other cell blocks are full.
Beecher: Well transfer me to another prison.
Tim McManus: Do I look like a travel agent to you?

Leo Glynn: People, we've got three murders in two weeks. I got the Commissioner yelling in my ear and the press shoved up my ass. The Governor's threatening to send in the feds. And my daughter wants to move into an apartment with her boyfriend. Somebody, help me out here.

Vernon Schillinger: You're not a Jew, are you?
Tobias Beecher: Me? Jewish? I don't even like Barbra Streisand.

Augustus Hill: Do we care for people when they're sick because we actually care about them? Or do we care for them because when our time comes, we want someone to care for us? Or does it matter? At least you got your health. Don't you hate it when people say that? I mean, you lose your job, you lose your wife, you're in prison, and some punkass dude gonna say, "At least you got your health." Like that's supposed to make me feel better. So what if I'm broke? So what if some drug dealer wants to cap my ass? At least I ain't got a tumor. I swear, the next person that says ALYGYH to me, I'm gonna make sure they ain't got their health much longer.