1980: "Brubaker"

                                  Brubaker is a prison film starring Robert Redford as Henry Brubaker, the new warden of Wakefield Prison in Arkansas and is heavily intent on reforming the dilapidated, corrupt prison system but comes across resistance from seedy politicians and uncooperative prison trusties.
                                The movie was based partly on a real life prison warden named Tom Murton, whose wardening exploits were chronicled in a book that helped influenced prison reform in Arkansas.
                               
                                  I, for the most part, enjoyed it as a minor social crusade film, despite the fact that it falls short of actually saying something about the broken prison system. The movie is harsh and grim; unflinching in its view of prison abuses. It's also a patient film, giving itself ample time to set up its dingy locations and its characters, before slowly ramping up the exciting changes that Brubaker brings to the prison (I almost think they could have had Brubaker stay in disguise even longer, because it's interesting to watch the prison in its lowly state). Though I think the movie lacks dimension and maybe a little too idealistic for its own good, it can be pretty rousing in the sense of any movie with black-and-white views of life (we want to see good triumph over evil; fairly simple).
                              Despite the positives, it's too formulaic and maybe doesn't quite understand the thorny complexities of prison culture. Not that I claim to know anything about the culture, but I have to imagine that prison inmates are probably ambivalent about any sort of radical changes that Brubaker brings to the table. I'm sure they're some, but most prisoners probably want a system of their own that they would want to follow, and not some white savior like Brubaker telling them how to live. Do you really think that all the prisoners were doing a corny slow clap for Brubaker? Sure, he cleaned it up and made it shinier, but does he know what he's really fighting for?
                           That leads us to the biggest hole in the movie: Brubaker himself. Who the hell he is? Where does he come from? What are his views? The movie never lets us into his brain (and, of course, they cast the most emotionally walled-off actor they can). He never has any moments of frailty or lingering doubts or fear. He's Jesus Christ as a prison warden (even the poster has him in semi-Christ pose). It all comes across as a self-righteous ego-trip against corruption.

                           Despite its shallowness, it's an pretty okay film where the good outweighs the bad. It's effective in its portrayal of prison life and can be compelling where the mystery aspects of it are involved (the reveal of the unmarked graves in the field). It's gritty and harsh on the surface, but a crowd-pleaser at its core.