It's hard to know where to start with this movie because to be honest with you it's all kind of a blur. Following the story of Martel "Too Sweet" Cardone (Leon Isaac Kennedy), from the outside world into prison; once inside Too Sweet through bullying decides it's important to fight in the prison boxing team, from here on out it's all kind of....Yawn.

I try never to write off a movie too soon, and in doing so watched Penitentiary until the very end, what I sadly was doing was not giving a movie a chance, but literally throwing away a hundred minutes of my life. Watching this movie is rather like spending 20 years doing a job you hate, it's offensive and almost painful. The story itself staggers between bad storytelling to bad editing; this is the reason why I find trying to tell the movie in a review so much of a blur.

The movie is pretty much an opportunity to display black people in the worst possible light stereotyping them into the category of rapists, drug addicts, murderers and crazy folks. From the first ten minutes of the movie you really get the feeling that this is a piece of racist paraphernalia. What is most sad about the movie is that is written and directed by a black filmmaker known as Jamaa Fanaka, committing the offence of selling his own race down the river.

After thirty minutes of stumbled storytelling the movie moves onto the fighting, which seems to dominate the following forty minutes. While Too Sweet fights in the ring, some of his fellow inmates use the opportunity to subdue some visiting women from the nearby women's prison, when i say subdue they have a choice have sex, or be raped; used as a tool of pleasure, obviously this is all women are worth. While having to endure the unending series of systematic sexual activity you are forced to hear the sound of the boxing match over the top of the lovemaking, further annoyance is that this sound is on a loop, so every few seconds you here the same shrieks and chants along with some wailing noises that you could only associate with a hippo standing on a spear.

All the way through the movie you feel you're not watching a serious piece of cult cinema, but a spoof; it resembles in some ways the Scary Movie films, with black people with over the top afro's smoking cigarettes through their ears. While another individual runs round with foam pouring from his mouth and covering his face while holding a monkey, demanding to see the naked rear end of whomever he finds offensive. I spent a great proportion of the movie laughing my socks off, but not at the great humour playing out on screen, but because of the sheer absurdity of the piece.

Further annoyance is delivered in the fact that when the cast are not talking in a as yet unchartered "negro slang", they are more often than not inaudible due to poor care of the print over the 30 years since the movie was made, in bringing the movie to DVD no time or effort has been spent trying to improve the sound, or the incredibly grainy images on screen.

What started out mildly amusing because of the overall "badness" of the piece soon turned to annoyance, I was annoyed that I was watching a movie that literally stood as a piece of intolerable racism at a time in American history where all cultures were supposedly being embraced after years of inequality.

 

Day after day he comes back with nothing but guilt, he begins to show regret in his eyes. He then attempts to drown himself in alcohol, trying to forget bout what has happened but only for a while, realizing it is only making it worse he gives up.

When he sees his wife leave and come back with the tracker and the lost child he is absolutely shattered, his face shows pain, distress and unbearable guilt. He realizes his stubbornness had killed his own daughter. The next day in the movie it repeats the opening scene with the father singing the sad song. The audience then realise it has been a recount, singing about how it his fault and the pain and guilt he feels. He walks outside not even saying a word to his wife, he kills himself.

The Mother of the young girl is conveyed to have suffered the most through her inner journey as well as physical, pushing herself to do whatever she can, she shows this pain through out the movie by crying and resorting to whatever she has to do to get her daughter back. This Suffering is emphasized ed by the magical calm scene in the beginning, were her and the daughter are laying down singing about how beautiful and magical the moon is; this gives us the strong feeling of a typical fairytale mother daughter relationship.

This Loss of the girl causes her to become very quiet and depressed. Hey emotional journey also continues in her sleep by nightmares showing that the only person that can find her is the "black tracker". The dreams she has and the pain she goes through makes her resort to getting the "black tracker" to help her, even betraying her husband.

At this point the mother's love for the husband fades and hatred of his stubbornness towards getting help from the "black tracker". When the daughter is found the mother's "inner journey" is at its climax, with the shock, pain, stress and disbelief causing her to almost scream in pain.

This realization of how fast the "tracker" found her makes her not feel anything for the stubborn father and so allows him to tragically kill himself at the end.

The Aboriginal "Black Tracker" is shown to be less affected but truly experiences the most agonizing inner journey. He begins with appearing at the families land then almost instantly kicked back off by the racist father, forbidding him to ever appear on his land again. This act greatly affects the "tracker", he feels he is unneeded and so quits being a policeman. This exclusion of his help tears him up inside, knowing he can find the young girl but forbidden to help he experiences many thoughts and consequences.

The conflict between him and the father is showing by the tension in the music and song duets they have. Always showing opposite points, the audience is shown the Aboriginal is trustworthy, singing “land is ME” while father sings “land is MINE”. Showing the Aboriginal is in touch with "the land".

His urge to help is shown by him always wandering around the families house, tracking which direction the girl might have gone.

The Aboriginal breaks the tension between him and the wife while caught searching the little girls room and giving the wife the girl's doll symbolizing he feels her pain and he wants to help.

Later he is approached by the wife who finally brings up the courage to betray her husband. He leads her through the country following the girl's exact tracks. He finds the young girls dead body, on the edge of a cliff. He comforts the wife while she mourns, showing how gentle the Aboriginal is.

His journey ends when he comforts the wife once again at the girl's funeral/burial.

Some critics call this movie a shame on Kazakhstan. It could be, I wouldn't know because I'm not from there and I have no right to say anything. This also leads to my next point. Though the racism used is targeted on specific people and is offensive, people to try and take it in. Yes racism is bad and horrible and it have caused suffering to many people throughout history but no matter what we do, racism will continue to stay and affect people. Now through the movie Borat we see a foreigner release racism. Using my above statement on foreigners, this can be understandable. I often think there are 2 types of racism. Racism that is meant and racism that is not meant. Racism that is meant, I think, is racism that is released through the racists hard and guts to offend someone. Racism that is not meant, is racism used in joke where the racist is not meaning to offend anyone in any horrible way. I think Borat is a movie that uses racism in a not meant way. I hope everyone else does to.

To end this off, I would like to say I hope what I have written here doesn't offend anyone but to only understand my opinion. For I hope that everyone enjoyed the movie and laughed but didn't take the racism that personal.

It opens with the Wayans Brothers (Shawn and Marlon, and no, we don't know which one is which) in a convenience store waiting for an "ice cream" delivery. They are disguised as Mexicans in one of the most racist depictions ever committed to celluloid. See, it isn't really ice cream that they are waiting for, it's drugs; and they're not really Mexican convenience store operators, they're Negro FBI agents. Got that?

Somehow, they mistake an actual ice cream delivery for the drug buy (what are the chances of that?) and end up fucking up in a spectacular manner. Admonished by their boss to "never do something like this again" and threatened with firing, they are given an assignment to protect "The Wilson Girls", two high society dames threatened with kidnapping. One contrivance invariably leads to another, and before you can say "special make-up effects" the boys are impersonating white chicks!

The Wayans are noticeably taller and thicker than these Paris Hilton clones, but in this films' mixed up worldview, none of this matters. It doesn't matter that the rubber masks that they have on are about as convincing as a dollar store Halloween costume. It doesn't matter that they retain all the mannerisms of young ghetto Negro men. It doesn't matter that they can't even keep it straight as to which sister they are impersonating. It doesn't matter that they are spending the weekend in the Hampton's with three of their closest childhood friends. You just have to accept the premise and willingly suspend disbelief. Repeating the mantra "It's only a movie" over and over to ones' self almost helps.

Now that we have like totally accepted the premise (wink-wink) we are set to have fun at the movies. Like shit and fart jokes? This thing really packs 'em in. You won't sit through five minutes of this masterpiece of shit without a flatulence gag. Do you enjoy contrivances that are as plastic as the girls' faces? We know that last statement might be a little hard to follow, but watch this film and you'll understand. Here's our take on what constitutes the plot.

We were laughing so hard at all the fart jokes, we may have it wrong: The twin socialites known as the Wilson Sisters are visiting the Hampton's. Someone has threatened kidnapping. Hence, the FBI. There's some very low sort of dramatic tension concerning which set of chicks make the cover of the Hampton Magazine (whatever the fuck that is). That dramatic tension causes a very low rent rivalry with another set of rich white chicks. It translates into a bunch of "you're mommas so..." jokes and a dance- off at a local discotheque.

Now that you're totally confused, the real chicks (who are sequestered away in the big city) see all the press they're getting ("We made Page Six!") and decide to go to the Hampton's to horn in on the good times. Here is the breathless ending, what with all the FBI agents, their pissed- off wives, socialites, kidnappers and what-not running around... oh yeah, and the rich black basketball star on the hunt for white meat! Did we forget to mention Latrell? His name is Latrell. The entire enterprise collapses to a conclusion and our boys indeed save the day.

White Chicks is so dumb, so racist, and so fucking wrong- headed at every turn, 12 Angry She Males sat in a state of Bad Movie Bliss that lingered in the air like all the farts this movie demands we enjoy. Keenan Ivory Wayans sets the civil rights movement back at least fifteen years with this thoroughly enjoyable atrocity.

We give it our highest rating, having loved every sickening second of this celluloid suck-fest. Wallow into this pule at your own risk but don't forget to bring along some potent air freshener.