BRUBAKER is another exemplary, hard-hitting slice-of-life prison drama from the director who brought us COOL HAND Luke. Robert Redford has never been better as a prison warden who goes undercover in his new posting in order to learn the ins and outs of the place - the ultimate UNDERCOVER BOSS! He soon learns that corruption is endemic in the system and vows to clean it out, with the usual repercussions. This lengthy drama is full to the brim of great sub-plots, moving scenes, fine character work from the supporting cast (David Keith and a debuting Morgan Freeman stand out alongside Yaphet Kotto, Joe Spinell, and Everett McGill as the guards) and a general quality feel. Overall, though, it's Redford himself who sells the picture, embodying his character with a real drive and spirit which is truly inspiring.

The film's based on an expose of actual occurrences at Arkansas' Cummins State Prison Farm, especially the secret convict burial ground found there.One thing for sure—this is not a date movie. Instead, it's a grim 2-hours redeemed by taking on a difficult topic, namely how some state prisons are run. Admittedly, the movie's lengthy, humorless, and undeviating in its narrative. But the 140-minutes is also richly detailed in its overall expose. Based on a true story, Redford plays a determined prison reformer who first impersonates an inmate in order to experience actual conditions at a prison farm. Then he assumes his official duties in casual dress, while continuing to mix with the convicts. Definitely, no romance here for movie star Redford.To say conditions at the penitentiary are corrupt understates them. The movie's quite good at showing how petty pay-offs decide who gets what among the inmates themselves, and then how the surrounding business community benefits from both inmate labor and the crops they produce. That's not to leave out state government and its slick go-betweens that tolerate the system since it does produce a profit.Determined to humanize brutal prison conditions, Redford takes a hands-on approach by daily eating and mingling with the convicts. Apparently, the higher-ups remain confident he'll be co-opted by the system at some point, just as previous reformers apparently were. However, they've underestimated his dedication, as even his politically liberal connection to the state governor, Lillian (Jane Alexander), finds out. Their low-key showdown is really the movie's most telling point. For it's the principled Redford's refusal to settle for a few changes that separates him from the more pragmatic Lillian. After all, only a few changes will leave the basically corrupt system in place. Redford understates his role in a generally emotionless way. And though he's in about every scene, he draws no attention to himself. Instead, as the pivotal convict Coombes, a commanding Yaphet Kotto gets the dramatic play. And in a touch of expert casting, the sly Murray Hamilton appears as a slippery politician who's used to smilingly fix things at the state level. The film's one false note occurs at the end,which is obviously staged. I can understand wanting to end on a hopeful note, but the uniform crowd response overdoes it. After all, wouldn't a few "realists" hang back in the interest of identifying with the new regime since that's where the future lies.Sad to say, I think the movie's also a reflection of too much of our current state of national affairs. On that national level, slick politicians maintain a system where the wealthy 1% rake off profits from a debt-ridden working class, kept in place by a growing government surveillance network. At the same time, our infrastructure crumbles like the prison roof in the movie. Of course, I'm not saying the country amounts to a prison, at least as long as the Constitution has some effect. But I am saying there are more parallels with Redford's movie than I'm comfortable with. Agree or not, the film is well worth pausing over.

My favorite kind of dramas have been those regarding prisons and their attempt to reform inmates. In fact, my top 2 films all time are 1994's Shawshank Redemption and 1999's The Green Mile. This film, Brubaker may not reach that scale, but it's still a great movie that tackles the subject of prison corruption. The film is well-acted especially by Robert Redford. Stuart Rosenberg's film is about a man named Brubaker who is a new warden at this Arkansas prison. He disguises himself as a prisoner to witness the corruption firsthand. When he reveals himself, he enacts many changes which angers the local community because they benefited from the corruption. After Brubaker threatens to reveal secrets about old murders, Brubaker's life may be threatened. Robert Redford delivers another fine performance, a more subtle performance this time around. But as the man who is performing the right moral moves and receiving sneers and jeers from everyone around him, he does a great job withholding to the pressure. There were also good performances from the likes of Yaphet Kotto and Jane Alexander as well as an early great performance from Morgan Freeman.Overall, Brubaker is a very good film. It is not the best prison drama ever made, but it still is a highly entertaining one. The one thing I suggest would have worked was more scenes involving Brubaker's disguise. I felt the beginning of the film moved too fast. A good drama with some thriller aspects. The film shows that prison corruption is more real than it seems. I rate this film 9/10.

This almost forgotten film should be analyzed today after its unexpected and unimagined possibility of an alternate reality that wasn't a complete fabrication. The story of a prison warden who wants to change everything that's wrong in the prison system of his state really happened. "Brubaker" focus on a challenge to a corrupt system that on the surface seems to be doing its service of punishing convicted criminals but also is a vile and dirty business whose purpose is to profit above all costs. The lead character, played by an unusual and remarkable Robert Redford, is introduced to us as a prisoner who barely speaks but observers everything concerning how inmates are treated by the guards, how the machine works behind bars and the constant brutality of the place. The plot twist to everyone is when he presents himself as the new warden and he sets up a whole reformation on the place, condemning what's wrong and doing what he believes it's right. There's plenty of benefits for the prisoners but the guards and the businessman who always gained advantages with the old administration aren't happy about this, and that misery and dissatisfaction goes back to the people who hired him, the governor and his staff who now pressure the man to go easy with his work. After all, they are losing a lot of money obtained with frauds and illegal schemes. One man alone means nothing so Brubaker is helped by some inmates and a local authority (Jane Alexander) who is close to the state governor, and will try to convince everyone that Brubaker's idealism if put to work can be profitable for everyone involved.Brubaker's idea isn't just to denounce the illegal affairs of the state and make budget cuts. He's more concerned with the way convicted felons are treated, want to stop their exploitation and make the place a safe environment instead of the critical animal factories that don't punish anyone but is only useful to transform them into bigger monsters whose only fate is either death, or commit more violent crimes or to return to the animal factory again. Sure, this idea is good and valuable but not practical. In the film's case, it fails because one can't change a system unless if one being part of it; Brubaker made the terrible mistake of not firing the whole officials team, and those guys still managed to cause harm and work their way behind his back; and the people with the money will always speak higher.Such idealism wouldn't work today, that's sure but it could worth a shot, specially in countries where the private initiative isn't the option (because politics are having their big time with a failing system that pays them well). Today's criminal minds are far more worse than the ones from the 1980's when this was made and they probably wouldn't leave a place where they could feel as if being on a hotel, practically with the cell keys on their hands, dictating orders like Pablo Escobar did in his "prison" time. But it can be made. And that final image of accomplish given here says everything even though things didn't turned the way it could. The film has a fine progression and it's greatly well acted by Alexander, Redford and heightened by convincing performances from trustworthy character actors Everett McGill, David Keith, Yaphet Kotto, Matt Clark, M. Emmet Walsh, Murray Hamilton and a young Morgan Freeman. "Brubaker" has that rare quality of being dreamy, that enlightening power some movies have in our reality and we want to believe of making a dream possible. To change the world. 8/10