Civil Brand (2002)

16% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(3,116 ratings)

Television director Neema Barnette directs the forceful drama Civil Brand, based on a story by Preston A. Whitmore II. Shot with a micro-budget of 500,000 dollars, the film stars confrontational rap and hip-hop artists Mos Def, MC Lyte, and Da Brat. The story concerns a women's prison that exploits… More Television director Neema Barnette directs the forceful drama Civil Brand, based on a story by Preston A. Whitmore II. Shot with a micro-budget of 500,000 dollars, the film stars confrontational rap and hip-hop artists Mos Def, MC Lyte, and Da Brat. The story concerns a women's prison that exploits its largely African-American inmate population as cheap labor to manufacture products for a corporation. Mostly incarcerated due to domestic violence situations, the inmates also face sexual abuse as the hands of the prison staff, headed by Captain Deese (Clifton Powell) and Warden Nelson (Reed McCants). Accused of murder, Frances Shepard (Lisa Rae) joins forces with inmates Little Momma (Lark Voorhies), Wet (Monica Calhoun), and Nikki Barnes (N'Bushe Wright), as well as law student Michael (Mos Def), in order to start an uprising. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 35 min.
Directed By: Neema Barnette
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Cult Movies

In Theaters: Aug 29, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Jan 27, 2004
Studio: Lions Gate Films

Critic Reviews

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
It's impossible to ignore the strain of misogyny that taints the movie.
Bob Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger
It's guilty of gross B-movie meltdown, but mitigating circumstances include honest anger and a scattering of vivid scenes.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Barnette, a veteran TV director, means this as an exposé of prison abuse and exploitation, but the film is too simplistic and derivative to succeed.
Tom Long, Detroit News
Artistically, its heavy-handed clumsiness undercuts its goals.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
It presents a heated-up, awkward blend of earnest outrage and down-and-dirty exploitation.
Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune
Plagued by continuity problems, ham-fisted storytelling and a problematic voiceover by Da Brat, Civil Brand feels less like a prison movie than a prison sentence.
Todd Gilchrist, FilmStew.com
Wildly uneven, rife with a virtual checklist of human tragedies that build to easy emotional crescendos but fail to engage the audience well enough to evoke any meaning.
Jonathan W. Hickman, Entertainment Insiders
This is a film about the abuses of privatization and presents a negative view of what might happen if corporate America gets control of the business of corrections.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
There's way too much of the usual bonding, beatings, petty humiliation by guards, cat fights in the yard and trips to the hole.
Peter Debruge, Premiere Magazine
If Civil Brand hopes to raise awareness or instigate reform, what it really needs is a greater focus on character over convention.
Blake French, Filmcritic.com
Hollywood still doesn?t seem to understand that just because someone can sing doesn't mean they can act. If this film doesn't prove that point, nothing will.
, E! Online
Women behind bars! While that's the perfect set-up for a late-night, soft-core cable movie, this flick is guilty of being nothing more than a jailhouse crock.
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
The movie is every bit as exploitative as the old Roger Corman babes-behind- bars flicks without having nearly as much campy fun.
James Hill, BET.com
After two smart acts, the film almost becomes the exploitation flick it so desperately wants to avoid.
Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly
If Civil Brand works ... as an updated women's prison melodrama with a strong whisper of political consciousness, there are some crippling flaws in the film.
Susan Green, Boxoffice Magazine
Muckraking mess of a movie.