Rich Wright
A warts-and-all depiction of life on the inside for women in the United States, so don't expect to see any tellies in cells or parties for inmates here. These girls are tougher than the skin of a burnt jacket potato, with violence and drug taking seen as an everyday occurrence. It's a place where the weak don't last for a day, and the wardens are almost as corrupt as the jailbirds. Into this hellhole arrives Treasure Lee, who has intentionally got herself sent down so she can meet her mum, who is a long term resident of this particular facility. As usual in the world of film though, things aren't as clear-cut as they appear...Credit to the director, this feels like a real-life, breathing prison, from the raucous games of basketball in the exercise yard, to the torture of being stuck in solitary confinement. I would LOVE our jails here in ol' soft touch UK to resemble this, but alas the yuman rights people would have a coronary. The 'ladies' may be both brutish and distinctly unfeminine, but they have their own unique personalities and this makes them fascinating to observe. Treasure's growing relationship with her mother is also movingly handled, and there are surprises ahead too... But I will say no more. To sum up then: A more than passable TV movie which should serve as a suitable deterrent for any potential American laddettes out there... 6/10
gayeshortland
Compelling watching and some terrific performances. A storyline that kept up the interest and camera work that knew how to caress its subjects. So what's my gripe? After several days' thinking about it, I have to conclude it was lesbian fantasy more than the realistic drama it claims to be. Treasure had beauty and impact and I LOVED Shadow's mobile face - but we might as well have been watching two teenage boys - theirs was a lean male beauty. And as for Brownie!! Great performance but why did she also have to have the physique of a man -- a squat brutal one in this case? There wasn't any sense that we were watching ordinary women in a terrible predicament. And had none of them men or children on the outside? Where was their history? That older woman in group session was almost stuck in to compensate for the lack of all that. Secondly I agree that Treasure's brooding impassive personality prevented us from knowing her thoughts and really feeling for her and in the end robbed the film of emotional impact.
desperateliving
What would probably be referred to as a "gritty slice of life drama" on the movie box (I saw it on TV) is interesting insofar as it presents another perspective -- it's the female equivalent of the "Oz" TV show (produced by HBO films), without the smarmy sexuality (the women are appropriately mannish, but the film doesn't feel the need to make their sex aggressive and off-putting). There are a few brief moments of tenderness between the women, but it's mostly the same thing you get with the majority of prison life movies -- fights, friendships, back-stabbings, immoral guards -- just with female machismo. It sets up the inner life of the prison, these people who inhabit it, but it doesn't show us human beings in prison (despite the old-timers' advice in group therapy sessions), it shows us prisoners. I liked the ending, so it gets an extra point for that, simply as a story; but if you're looking for "cinema," look elsewhere. 7/10
SRLReeves
Well, sometimes life itself doesn't make perfect sense. This movie was so awesome. Heart touching. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The love scenes were like, so in tune.They weren't explicit, they used just enough for the imagination. But the ending, my heart almost skipped a beat. I guessed a lot of what was going to happen but never in a million years, did I expect all of that. You are in for a real treat. I felt the pain. Boy did I. That's all I am going to say for I will probably let it blurt out the ending if I don't stop now. Please watch. I watched with my mother. Mother and Daughter. And it was very heart touching.
AD
