It's guilty of gross B-movie meltdown, but mitigating circumstances include honest anger and a scattering of vivid scenes.
Comment
10/13/03
Rate this Movie 
Civil Brand (2003)
16
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:3
Rotten:16
Average Rating:3.8/10
Theatrical Release:Aug 29, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $123,580
Synopsis: “Welcome to the plantation, sister Frances.” With those words, Frances Shepherd, a beautiful young mother and nurse, is greeted upon her arrival at Whitehead Correctional Institute, a... [More]
Starring: Lisa Raye, N'Bushe Wright, Monica Calhoun, Mos Def
Director: Neema Barnette
Get This Movie
Reviews for Civil Brand
1 - 19 (sorted by critic A-Z)
Top CriticIf Civil Brand hopes to raise awareness or instigate reform, what it really needs is a greater focus on character over convention.
09/09/03
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.
10/09/03
Top CriticHollywood 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.
08/30/03
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.
12/15/03
Muckraking mess of a movie.
08/22/03
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.
08/27/03
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.
10/11/03
After two smart acts, the film almost becomes the exploitation flick it so desperately wants to avoid.
08/29/03
Although the film loses its way in the late going with a preponderance of melodramatic elements that dilute the more compelling social message, for much of its running time it packs a visceral punch.
08/30/03
Top CriticArtistically, its heavy-handed clumsiness undercuts its goals.
10/10/03
Top CriticThere's way too much of the usual bonding, beatings, petty humiliation by guards, cat fights in the yard and trips to the hole.
10/10/03
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.
10/10/03
Top CriticIt presents a heated-up, awkward blend of earnest outrage and down-and-dirty exploitation.
10/09/03
Top CriticWithout a scorcher like Pam Grier, the sub-NYPD Blue dialogue and acting dilute what could have been a shrieking wake-up call about for-profit prisons.
10/08/03
Top CriticA compelling, highly charged film that brings a contemporary perspective to classic prison picture elements.
08/28/03
Top CriticIt's impossible to ignore the strain of misogyny that taints the movie.
10/16/03
Top CriticThe movie is every bit as exploitative as the old Roger Corman babes-behind- bars flicks without having nearly as much campy fun.
08/29/03
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.
08/29/03
1 - 19 (sorted by critic A-Z)
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Best Dozen of the Decade 
Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!
Top 50 of 2009
Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.
Santa's Naughty List
Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
RSS Feeds