Civil Brand (2003)

Ever seen "Set it off" and "Shawshank redemption"? Civil brand is like both those movies combined. The ending is a lot like "set it off". Da Brat (yes the rapper) is the narrator of this movie.You got 4 main women: Wet, Nikki, Francis and Little mama. All are in prison for some jacked up reasons. Mainly Francis since her actions are the only ones that can be justified.The women in prison are used to make items for the Warden so he could sell those items for a lot more. Pretty much scamming $$$. The main point is the prison is corrupt and the inmates are abused. There's a new guard (played by Mos Def) who's most likely their only ally.BTW, after watching Clifton Powell in this movie I wonder could Hollywood politics get any biased. He deserved major props for his role. Who didn't do a fantastic job in this movie?!

In one way, I hate to downgrade this film because it does have a message it is trying to get out, and there are so few films about African American women. I also understand the director is an African American woman. However, the truth is, this film is not very well done at all.What they wanted to convey was the conditions for women in prisons. What came across, however, was that only African American women are in prisons (the very few white women seen, had non-speaking roles and were just blurry extras in the background). They also wanted to indicate that the working conditions in prisons are terrible, again, they failed to truly show this--instead it came across as if the prisoners felt they shouldn't have to work at all, that they should just be allowed to loll about entertaining themselves all day.I never did get all the women characters straightened out as to who was who and who did what. We don't get enough time with each woman to get to know her that well.All the guards and the Warden are the mean, bad guys, except for the one new guard, Michael. The actor playing Michael was a very poor choice for the role. Michael is supposed to be a college student, studying to be a lawyer, the actor who played him, keeps his head down and mumbles his lines in a way that gives the impression he has no self-confidence at all.The plot, such as it is, concerns the women being ill-treated by the Captain of the guards who demands sexual favors of them while man-handling them brutally. Also the plot concerns them doing sewing in what is supposed to be sweat shop conditions for virtually no pay, while the man who re-sells the items is making a big profit.Can the women get the truth out there, is the plot question.Meanwhile we see some woman on woman fighting, some stabbing, and some time spent in solitary.All of the women have children and miss their children, and of course they have been imprisoned unfairly and that sort of thing.Unfortunately there are no love affairs or sex between the female prisoners, which would have added some realism and interest to the story.3 stars out of 10

I watched this movie twice. Once without any preview or knowledge of the plot. The second time listening to the commentary from the producer and the director. I do understand that the movie had a lot of problems with financing and script re-writes. I also understand that they had problems just getting all of the scenes that they needed to complete the picture. With that said, I really didn't feel that this movie was anything greater than a made for cable movie.I read about the glaring errors in other posts, but to me, the most obvious was the acting. I just felt that it wasn't realistic at times. We've all seen the formula girl prison movie before. This movie tacks on another issue not explored in other prison films. If this movie stayed on that issue more and tried not to tackle 4-5 other problems going on in prisons today, I think it would have been a better movie.I really hope they give the director a chance to really direct a picture so I can see what potential she has to offer with an all black female cast. I just wasn't stirred by this film and the disjointed acting and editing was probably the reason why.

When you consider that Lions Gate reneged on a promised 25 day shooting schedule with no advance notice, forcing the director to finish the film in 14 days, the movie is not bad. Props to Neema Barnette for championing this film and finally getting it into movie theatres.