Suffice it to say this movie could have been way more than it was. I have to write this knowing what transpired in the making of the film. Civil Brand was to focus on the Prison Industrial Complex and how it relates to women in prison. The fact that most women in prison are in as a result of some aspect of domestic violence; and that the need for these women in prison fuels a slavocracy in the production of products for sale for corporation; and that the prison industry has risen as a result of this need for slave labor; and that women in prison are attacked because of their gender ie rape,beatings. The budget was approx $500.000, the shoot was 15 days. (Using real or ex convicts along with the actors would have been the real deal adding a reality and tension in the film that it cannot get w/just actors) Simply there was not enough money or time given to the filmmaker to put these points across with the bang, which is how I believe they intended. The forces that be "behind" the film did not allow it. Nevertheless, Civil Brand, gives us a glimpse of the gendered persecution that women face in prison and how if people really knew what was happening in there they would not want to go in(focus on youth) and they would rise up against a system that destroys human potential and separates themselves from their selves.
Review of Civil Brand
